Graham Platner says Maine voters will 'have my back' despite scandals ahead of Senate primary

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BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Graham Platner, the insurgent Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, defiantly declared Friday that voters would stand by him despite a steady drumbeat of reports about his history with women.

Speaking to a crowd of hundreds in a costal resort town, with Tuesday's primary around the corner, the first-time candidate pitched himself as a man with an imperfect past who remains Democrats' best chance to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.

“When politically motivated, serious and false accusations are made against me, Maine, you have my back,” Platner said. “The state of Maine raised me. And the state of Maine saved me.”

Last weekend, his campaign wrestled with stories about sexually explicit messages that Platner sent to several women while he was married. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends. Some viewed him positively but others described him as volatile and insulting.

One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner called that allegation untrue.

While some Democrats have been alarmed by Platner’s checkered past, there was little hesitation in Friday’s crowd, which gave Platner a standing ovation before he even started talking.

Platner is the last candidate in the running for the nomination after Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign, and the party faithful appear eager to rally behind a candidate they hope can defeat Collins. Some argued that the need for Democrats to take back control of the U.S. Senate is too important to cast aside flawed candidates.

“I’ve always believed in redemption. And so, I just think people deserve a second chance, and should be allowed to continue changing,” said Brendan O'Keefe of Seal Cove.

Galen Lowe of Bar Harbor said he believed that Platner was leveling with voters about his past.

“It’s refreshing to have someone actually own up to stuff that they’ve done and say, yeah, that wasn’t such a great idea. I’m working to be a better person," he said.

Platner is key to Democrats hopes' to win a Senate majority, and he's maintained support from prominent politicians like Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego. He appeared Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for U.S. House and governor.

“We reject, unequivocally, misogyny. But you know who else rejects it? Graham Platner," Khanna said. “He understood that those years that he came back were not the best years of his life.”

Platner faced renewed scrutiny last weekend after reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren’t a liability to the campaign. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

Genevieve McDonald, a former campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Shortly after the news came out, Platner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts but dubbed the broader coverage as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Gertner's emotional comments about working on her marriage have resonated with some women, who say they are shocked that a former campaign aide would betray someone's trust and the issue should remain between the couple.

“It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” said Joanne Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I would hope that people wouldn’t judge any one person on their own private marriage.”

Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, described Gertner's honesty about trying to work on their mental health and marriage as admirable.

“That is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “That is integrity. Personal growth is not a disqualification from public life. For many of us, it is precisely what made us worthy of it.”

However, Tate conceded that her mind wasn’t fully at ease. With the public still learning about Platner’s past, there is a chance something could emerge as a dealbreaker for voters.

“Of course, there is that concern as there would be in any race with somebody we don’t know all the dramas and the journeys they’ve been on," she wrote. "Something could come out that would be disqualifying.”

This isn’t the first time Platner has faced questions about his past. He had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he had covered up after starting his campaign.

Platner has said he didn't realize the meaning of the tattoo. However, a former girlfriend told the Times he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

As revelations have emerged around Platner, at least two feminist political groups — National Organization for Women PAC and Vote for Equality — encouraged Maine voters to vote for Mills, who will still appear on the ballot.

Platner has never held elected office and has fashioned a progressive, populist-style campaign focusing on issues such as income inequality, lack of health care accessibility and the rising cost of housing. In return, he's attracted thousands at his rallies and campaign events and collected millions in campaign funds to further boost his messaging.

But some Democrats are also wrestling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Platner could come out ahead of the November election.

“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, chair of Maine’s Piscataquis County Democrats. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. Then what do we do?”

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Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.