Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner fundraised with health care lobbyists in Washington days before he signed a pledge to reject campaign donations from the sector.
The Sullivan oyster farmer is the frontrunner in the race to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in a primary that includes Gov. Janet Mills and 2024 U.S. Senate nominee David Costello. Platner’s progressive agenda includes support for breaking up monopolies in the health and pharmaceutical industries and banning ads for prescription drugs.
On Wednesday, Platner became the first federal-level Maine candidate to sign National Nurses United’s “Patients Over Profits” pledge, promising to refuse donations of more than $200 from executives, lobbyists and political groups affiliated with the corporate health care industry.
That came just five days after a coffee fundraiser in Washington hosted by lobbyists who have represented the sector. One of them, Joshua Hurvitz, is a former Democratic congressional aide who has worked in recent years for Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and PhRMA, the top trade group working on behalf of the corporate giants in the industry.
“I’ve been in rooms with lobbyists at a fundraiser,” Platner said when asked about past fundraisers. “Lobbyists come to public fundraisers.”
Platner began his race as an insurgent candidate but has outraised and outpolled Mills, who is a top recruit of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. He has railed against lobbyists and the Democratic establishment but has fundraised among moneyed insiders while building out his formidable campaign that outraised both Mills and Collins in late 2025.
Platner signed the pledge alongside registered nurses outside Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, which recently reached a tentative three-year contract agreement with its nurses union, preventing a planned strike.
Erin Oberson, a nurse at the Bangor hospital who is active in the union, said in a statement that the pledge is forward-looking, only covering donations after candidates sign on. She also said it’s focused “on large hospital corporations and Big Pharma, specifically the PACs and executives who actively fight to protect our broken, profit-driven health care system.”
That means past contributions do not violate the pledge. Oberson noted that nurses have been in communication with the campaign about specific criteria to look out for going forward.
Platner’s campaign took in at least $12,000 in 2025 that may fall under the pledge, including $6,000 from Arnold Richman, owner of Brightview Senior Living, a private health care company serving seniors in several states. Those contributions mark a small fraction of the Platner campaign’s fundraising haul, which included $4.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Platner’s campaign noted that fundraising events held this month and in December were not industry events, saying attendees from a range of sectors came on their own behalf and not to lobby Platner. His message of Medicare for All and breaking up monopolies has remained consistent throughout his run, the campaign noted.
The Mills administration says the governor has focused on lowering costs, expanding Medicaid, establishing the state-based insurance marketplace and ensuring Mainers with pre-existing conditions maintain coverage. She has embraced the idea of universal coverage during her campaign, which has recently focused on old Reddit posts that rocked Platner’s campaign in the fall.
In Bangor, Platner, a military veteran, called for free and convenient mental health care as part of his health plan, saying “no one is immune.”