Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner took shots at incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins while unveiling a series of policies he said would root out fraud, waste and bribery in Washington.
At a press event outside Collins’ office, the Sullivan oyster farmer cited recent campaign finance reports showing the five-term Republican has received nearly $10 million from individual billionaires and political action committees to fuel her reelection campaign.
According to reporting by the Maine Monitor, the amount billionaires gave in support of Collins is similar to the amount that small-dollar donors — those giving $200 or less — contributed to the Platner campaign. Billionaires gave $9.8 million in support of Collins, while small-dollar donors gave $9.6 million to support Platner.
Platner said that’s just one reason to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allows corporations to indirectly spend unlimited amounts of money to influence political races.
“Ask yourself, why are nearly 100 billionaires from outside of the state of Maine investing in our Senate race? It’s not because they care about Maine. It’s because they expect a return on their investment,” he said.
Platner supports overturning the Supreme Court ruling by constitutional amendment and imposing lifelong bans on former lawmakers from lobbying Congress.
While Maine voters approved in initiative in 2024 to bypass the Citizens United decision by limiting campaign contributions to political action committees, it was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge.
Platner also alleged Collins has used her seat in Congress to funnel money to a lobbying firm her husband worked for called Jefferson Consulting Group. He said the firm received over $76 million in federal contracts.
Collins’ campaign manager Steve Abbott said Platner, “accused her of engaging in a criminal activity with no evidence.”
“‘Come on, man, we know what the system does.’ That’s all he can say,” Abbott said in a statement. “He has not one single fact to back it up, and the reason he does that is because it never happened. It’s not true. It’s a lie … The executive branch awards contracts. Congress does not award contracts. Susan Collins has never awarded a contract in her life. Neither has anybody else who’s ever worked in the United States Senate.”
Platner unveiled a policy he calls the “Collins Rule” which would require Senators to recuse themselves from any vote involving an agency from which their spouse could receive government contracts.
In 2017, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced a similar rule targeting presidential appointees to recuse themselves from decisions affecting the financial holdings of the president, but the bill has not been made into law.
“Every policy in this plan rests on the exact same conviction. That public office is a public trust, not a personal investment account,” Platner told reporters.
His platform also includes banning members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks while in office and enforcing laws that strip pensions from members of Congress who are convicted of felonies.
Platner also slammed the Pentagon for what he says has been a streak of misreported finances and failed audits. He says that’s due to artificially inflated prices for military parts by defense contractors.
“Picture pouring money into a bucket with a gaping hole in the bottom,” Platner said. “That hole just so happens to leak directly into the pockets and bank accounts of defense contractors and the Washington insiders who represent them and the establishment politicians who often invest in them.”
Platner vowed not to pass “blank checks” for military spending until the Pentagon passes its audits. He also proposed barring defense contractors caught defrauding the Pentagon from future federal contracts and imposing lifelong bans for military officials from entering the lobbying industry.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.