It’s official: the Democrats are heading to the midterms with an oysterman from Maine.
Graham Platner, the dark horse candidate who bulldozed his way past Governor Janet Mills, the Democratic Party’s preferred candidate for Senate, won the state’s barely contested primary on Tuesday night despite a laundry list of scandals and controversies. Unless those crises compound enough to force Platner to drop out of the race, he’ll go to the polls in November as the Democrats’ best hope for retaking the Senate, in a highly competitive race with incumbent Senator Susan Collins.
“I’m humbled and proud to officially be your Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate to take on Susan Collins and the billionaire class she represents. Together, we will win this seat back for working Mainers,” Platner said in an X statement. “Thank you, Maine.”
Platner’s road to the nomination hasn’t been easy. With little institutional backing, Platner started his campaign with an open appeal to frustrated voters on social media. Platner’s ease on camera and plainspoken message quickly captivated viewers around the country, and the resulting flood of small-dollar donations made him an actual factor in a race that most assumed would be handed to Mills. Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Platner in August of last year, bringing a political legitimacy to his campaign and aligning him firmly with the kind of outsider, against-the-machine politics that Sanders has represented inside the Democratic Party.
At the end of April this year, Mills suspended her campaign, clearing the way for Platner’s nomination. She remained on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary, but garnered only 18.7 percent of the vote versus Platner’s 74.7 percent.
But Platner’s past has consistently reared its head. In October of last year, Platner faced intense criticism when he revealed that he had gotten a tattoo of a Nazi symbol during his time in the military. Platner mostly weathered that scandal, blaming the poor decision on youth and ignorance, and had the tattoo covered up.
Reporters digging into Platner’s past also discovered a long history of uncouth and politically incorrect social media posts, including a lengthy archive of Reddit posts. He has also come under fire for more recent indiscretions, including extramarital sexting and reports that he had behaved in an “unsettling” manner in past relationships.
The biggest question in this race is whether there are more damaging stories for Platner that have yet to be revealed. His campaign, thus far, has made the calculation that none of the scandals have been fatal. But Platner is already slipping in some polls, with one putting his lead over Collins at just a few points, 51-49 percent, as of early June. And Collins, who has represented Maine in the Senate for nearly 30 years, has consistently outperformed bad polling when it comes down to the actual election.
The latest polls are still fresh, and we have a long way to go before November. If Platner keeps his nose clean and campaigns hard, the numbers may come back up. But either way, there will be no easy win for Democrats come November: the hardest part of Graham Platner’s career is yet to come.
