BAR HARBOR, Maine — Democrat Graham Platner thanked hundreds of cheering supporters not far from his hometown for supporting him as his Senate campaign faces intense scrutiny and criticism.
“Maine, you have my back,” Platner, 41, said, as his supporters stood and cheered. “As every single piece of [my] past and journey gets dug up, litigated and weaponized, you have my back”
The rally with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) and other Democratic candidates at a theater in this resort town comes as Platner battles a spate of tough news accounts of his past and as a few Democrats in Washington have begun publicly suggesting he is not the right person to try to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that is crucial to Democrats’ bid to flip the Senate.
“We’re going to need to have each others’ backs because we are in the fight of our lives,” Platner said, dismissing some allegations made against him as false and “politically motivated.”
Over the past week, Platner has faced down stories that revealed he sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women despite being married and another in which three women told the New York Times they had volatile relationships with Platner in the past.
One ex-girlfriend alleged that he once physically restrained her. Platner has denied the ex-girlfriend’s claims that he ever was violent with her, and he and his team have said her work as a Republican activist discredits her. The Washington Post has not independently verified her claims of violence.
One of Platner’s supporters in the crowd, Karen Svenson, said the recent allegations of texting women while married bothered her, but she was impressed by how he responded this week.
“He told us back to our faces that he is a changed man, and who has the guts to say that?” Svenson said.
Platner and his wife, Amy Gertner, have said the texts were a personal matter that they worked through in therapy since their marriage in 2023. Supporters gave her a standing ovation during the event and chanted her name.
Platner is heavily favored to win the June 9 Democratic primary. Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April after failing to gain traction. This week, Mills reminded people that she is still on the ballot, and her supporters are hoping she will receive a sizable protest vote as Platner’s troubles mount.
But Platner’s supporters on Friday night dismissed the notion that someone else might step in as the Democratic nominee, calling it fantasy. Many cited the bond Platner has built with his supporters as he crisscrossed the state over the past few months with his populist message of sweeping change to empower the working class.
“They’re going to have to bring an army if they think they’re going to get rid of Graham,” said Kathleen Grover, a 73-year-old retiree who came to see him speak. “He’s not going to go.”
Khanna, who has become a leading advocate in Congress for women who accused disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein of abuse, walked a fine line in his speech defending Platner, saying Platner was not perfect but had owned his mistakes.
“No one should make excuses for his past relationships, some of which were toxic and volatile,” Khanna said. “And no one on our side should attack the women who came forward.”
But Khanna added the United States “broke” young men like Platner, a combat veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, by sending them to war. “If someone felt hurt by Graham in a past relationship, we can listen to them, and we can listen to Graham,” Khanna said.
Platner has survived controversies before. He weathered reporting on his deleted Reddit comments insulting rural Mainers and downplaying the seriousness of sexual assault in the military. Platner also changed a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest last year after he said he first became aware of its connotations during his campaign. He disavowed many of the Reddit comments and said he made them when he was battling untreated PTSD.
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