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Graham Platner met connected Tuesday pinch Democratic leaders successful Washington DC arsenic nan embattled Maine Senate campaigner contends pinch yet different revelation threatening his campaign, which is astatine nan halfway of his party’s hopes of regaining power of Congress.
Platner did not respond to questions from reporters and quickly entered a waiting car arsenic he exited nan meeting, which stretched for much than an hr and a half astatine nan office of nan Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). A spokesperson for nan DSCC did not respond to a petition for comment.
Platner’s run has been captivating and tumultuous successful turns earlier nan 9 June primary. A governmental chartless earlier 2025, nan Maine oyster fisher and marine combat veteran’s plainspoken progressive transportation to voters resonated connected societal media and sparked speech astir nan measurement Democratic candidates should position themselves against authoritarianism.
His nationalist appeal, polling numbers and sizeable fundraising powerfulness earned nan endorsement of senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego and different progressive stalwarts. Platner’s emergence sidelined nan Democratic Maine politician Janet Mills’s run to unseat Republican legislator Susan Collins, who is running for a sixth term. Democrats must nett 4 seats to triumph power of nan Senate, and Collins is nan sole Republican up for re-election who represents a authorities Kamala Harris won 2 years ago.
However, Platner’s individual behaviour has raised questions astir his characteristic and electoral chances successful November.
Platner exchanged sexually definitive texts pinch different women during his marriage, according to accusation his woman shared pinch his run past year, nan New York Times and nan Wall Street Journal reported, and which nan Guardian has confirmed.
Journalists learned of nan texts from nan campaign’s erstwhile governmental head Genevieve McDonald, who obtained them from Amy Gertner, Platner’s wife, successful nan communal process of proactive guidance research. The Platner run released a connection from Gertner, successful which she said she had been “deeply hurt” by McDonald’s action.
“I confided profoundly individual specifications astir my matrimony to personification I considered a friend,” she said. “I trusted this personification pinch nan astir backstage section of our lives – nan early days of our matrimony earlier immoderate run was connected our mind.”
The incident, however, built connected different findings of past indiscretions.
Reddit posts from 2013 to 2021 – from erstwhile Platner was aged 24 to 37 – resurfaced successful October, successful which he claimed to beryllium a “communist”, labelled white, agrarian Americans “stupid” and “racist”, and called constabulary officers “bastards”. In these posts, Platner utilized anti LGBTQ+ slurs, questioned why “Black group didn’t tip” and said that survivors and victims of intersexual battle should “take immoderate work for themselves and not get truthful fucked up”.
All of this was earlier he told nan hosts of Pod Save America that arsenic a marine stationed successful Croatia, he went drinking 1 nighttime and sewage a tattoo of a skull and crossbones successful a creation resembling nan Totenkopf, an emblem that was utilized by nan Nazi Schutzstaffel. He has since had nan tattoo covered up, and said he only precocious understood its meaning.
Platner gave a direct-to-camera mea culpa and has spoken regularly astir this behaviour since, describing himself arsenic imperfect and his comments arsenic nan merchandise of post-traumatic accent upset from his harrowing subject work successful Iraq and Afghanistan. “I witnessed unit and scary astatine a standard that I was not rather prepared for, each successful nan work of thing that I now judge was pointless,” he said.
On Monday, Mills informed reporters that while her run had been suspended, her sanction still remained connected nan ballot.
After nan contention that plagued nan early months of Platner’s campaign, immoderate Democratic voters successful Maine person been tense astir much ungraded that could person nan imaginable to extremity his Senate bid.
During a late-April municipality hallway successful Sabattus – earlier news collapsed of his sexually definitive messages to respective women – voters straight asked nan presumptive nominee whether he had immoderate remaining controversies to address.
“Is location thing you request to stock pinch us?” Carolyn Greeley, 68, asked Platner during nan event. He assured those gathered astatine nan town’s American Legion that location was thing near for rivals to uncover.
“I’m conscionable asking, is location thing from your past that they tin excavation up connected a female – that possibly nary didn’t mean nary astatine nan time?” Greeley pressed. “Is she going to travel guardant and say: ‘I was truthful drunk I didn’t cognize what I was doing.’”
Platner was resolute. “No,” he said. “I’ve gone connected dates, I’ve had girlfriends, I’ve gone done life. I person relationships that person ended. I person 1 narration that didn’t.”
Greeley later told nan Guardian that she was “really acrophobic for [Platner]”, and what guidance investigation mightiness travel retired down nan line.
