Shortly after his U.S. Senate campaign launch took him from obscurity to fame virtually overnight, Graham Platner got lunch with a well-known businessman and Democratic donor.
“How did all this happen so fast?” Adam Lee, the chairman of Auburn-based Lee Auto Malls, recalled asking him.
“I can’t take credit for any of it,” Platner replied, referring to the operatives, including those at the Fight Agency, who helped recruit him to the race. “It was all them.”
Months later, Platner is in an unprecedented position in Maine’s political history. He was handily beating Gov. Janet Mills in a poll released last week, raising more money than her and stretching his chances of a primary win past 70%, according to the emerging online prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket.
There is still time for Mills to turn things around. But Democrats who have been skeptical of Platner are acknowledging his frontrunner status or trying to better understand the candidate who may face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race crucial to deciding Senate control.
“I think Graham may have a better chance of winning the primary at this point,” Lee, who is supporting Mills, said. “I think Janet would have a much better shot at beating Collins, because people know exactly who she is.”
The University of New Hampshire poll that found Mills 38 points behind Platner has changed the tone of the race. Her campaign released a memo that questioned the survey’s sample of younger voters and self-described socialists that favor Platner over Mills and noted the same survey badly missed on a voter ID referendum that failed at the ballot in November.
Speaking to a reporter last week, she said Republican ads would “make mincemeat” of Platner in a reference to past Reddit posts and a tattoo of a Nazi symbol that rocked his campaign when they were disclosed in October. The 41-year-old progressive faced further scrutiny after deleting a social media post from a far-right source last week.
“My opponent has some obvious flaws and liabilities that would make him very vulnerable in a general election,” she said during an official visit to Presque Isle.
Platner’s campaign responded to Mills by noting that his busy schedule of town halls have continued to draw massive crowds. Unions active in Maine that support the 41-year-old Platner have urged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who supports Mills, to stay out of the Maine primary, according to NBC News.
Mills has often broken with many in her party on labor issues, incensing many unions when she vetoed a priority bill early in her tenure to establish binding arbitration for public employees in labor impasses. The machinists union representing shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works has now made getting Platner through the primary a main goal.
It has not committed to anybody in November after supporting Collins in the past, David Sullivan, a former BIW employee who now runs the union’s activities in the east, said. He sees Mills as uniquely bad on labor issues and foresees a lot of support for the incumbent in his ranks if Mills is the nominee.
He will be at a Thursday meeting between union staffers and Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, saying his message to Schumer will be to not to interfere with the race after he said former President Joe Biden harmed the Democratic Party by remaining in his 2024 race too long.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
“Maine people don’t want D.C. politicians telling us what’s right for Maine,” Sullivan said.
Back in Maine, political figures who have remained neutral in the race are taking stock. Last week, Portland Mayor Mark Dion endorsed former Senate President Troy Jackson, a darling of organized labor who is running for governor and often attends events with Platner.
But Dion has held out so far in the Senate race, recently telling the conservative Maine Wire that he has been trying to meet with Platner, noting the candidate’s economic populism in speeches but wondering about what he’ll do in office. In an interview, he called it a fascinating primary.
“When the governor makes tough decisions, she has the capacity to be reflective, compare it to other decisions and try to assess what the actual impact will be on the people of the state. That’s her strength,” he said. “Graham’s tapping into the emotion of many of us who feel like the game’s wrong; it’s got to change.”
Some Mills backers have dug in. Energy lobbyist Tony Buxton said he wanted a more vigorous campaign from Mills but that Platner has not demonstrated the character needed to beat Collins. The incumbent declined to indicate a preference on who she runs against.
“It’s up to the Democratic voters who they nominate,” spokesperson Shawn Roderick said.
BDN writer Cameron Levasseur contributed to this report.