Politics
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PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner received backing from Planned Parenthood on Monday, giving him a boost from one of several Democratic-aligned groups that had yet to jump on board with his bid against five-term Republican Susan Collins.
Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson campaigned with Platner in Portland Monday alongside reproductive healthcare advocates and community members. The oyster farmer and military veteran, who has faced continued revelations of past alleged behavior, inflammatory social media comments and a since-covered tattoo of a Nazi symbol, is seen as critical for Democrats’ hopes to flip the Republican-controlled Senate in November.
The endorsement came two days before the four-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion rights in Roe v. Wade, which Collins critics have partly pinned on her key vote for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which figures to be at the center of the second consecutive campaign involving the senator.
“She may not regret her vote for Kavanaugh, but there are a lot of Maine voters who regret their vote for her,” Platner said of the senator.
Johnson noted that more than 20 states had banned or restricted abortion rights in the wake of the Dobbs decision. The ruling has left women facing dangerous and sometimes deadly delays or traveling hundreds of miles for care, she said.
“To change that reality we need to change the majority in the Senate, and that means electing champions like Graham Platner,” she said. “He’ll fight for essential care, he’ll fight to protect our rights from judicial decisions.”
But Platner has not received universal support from similar groups. Reproductive Freedom for All, which like Planned Parenthood previously endorsed Mills, has not expressed support for Platner since he won the primary. The advocacy group did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
EMILY’s List, a group that also backed Mills, only endorses women candidates and did not comment on the record Monday. But earlier this month the group sent out emails and texts with Platner’s name as the subject heading before saying, “We knew that would get your attention,” and naming several Democratic women candidates nationwide “who should have it instead.”
The Senate Democratic campaign arm led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The group offered support for Platner after Mills suspended her bid and as he was looking to assuage senators following stories about explicit messages sent to multiple women early in his marriage.
After he secured the nomination this month, the group said Maine voters will elect Platner and help flip the chamber. But it focused almost entirely on attacking Collins’ track record of voting 96% with President Donald Trump and confirming “far-right judicial nominees.”
Platner supporters in Portland Monday shrugged off any concerns about tepid support from other groups or lawmakers who had previously embraced Mills, who was recruited to run by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.
Johnson, who credited Mills for “incredible work” on reproductive rights, said Planned Parenthood’s endorsement of the governor in April had “nothing to do with Graham Platner’s strong conviction around reproductive freedom.” She said the pair had met last week, and that “this is about the future of this country.”
Platner’s campaign said the candidate is making inroads with a range of groups. The strong showing from Planned Parenthood and Maine Women’s Lobby in Portland are examples of state and national advocates and playmakers rallying behind him, the campaign said.
A source familiar with the plans of Senate Majority PAC, which is controlled by Schumer, said it’s highly likely Mainers will see more abortion-related ads this cycle “focusing on Collins’ anti-choice record.”
The group commissioned a poll by Hart Research in March suggesting abortion attacks were the second-most effective against Collins behind healthcare and Medicare cuts. The issue is particularly motivating for registered Democrats, who head to the polls in the first post-Roe cycle in what’s already expected to be a tough year for Trump’s GOP.
Collins’ campaign cited a memo from just over a year ago crediting a “long history of supporting Planned Parenthood and access to essential health care.” The group endorsed Collins in 2002, but backed former House Speaker Sara Gideon’s failed campaign in 2020, citing the senator’s vote for Kavanaugh two years earlier.
“Unfortunately, every election year we see the leaders of Planned Parenthood become more and more partisan,” Shawn Roderick, Collins’ campaign spokesperson, told Bangor Daily News in a statement. “The leadership cares more about party politics than they do about the issues.”
Platner supporters countered that Maine’s abortion protections are no guarantee, particularly as a gubernatorial race is waged between former state House Speaker Hannah Pingree and conservative lawyer Bobby Charles.
Former state Sen. Rebecca Millett, D-Cape Elizabeth, noted that Trump could have the chance to nominate at least two more justices to the Supreme Court during his last time in office.
“We cannot let Susan Collins be in the Senate if that happens,” she said.