(Adnkronos) – Graham Platner, the anti-establishment oyster farmer, will be the Democratic candidate in the Maine election challenge, which is shaping up to be one of the most important battles for control of the Senate next November. And the Democratic leadership, which in recent months had put all its chips on current governor Janet Milles, who withdrew in April seeing Platner’s enormous lead, quickly embraced the distinctly populist, left-wing Democrat as the man who can beat Republican Susan Collins.
“Collins has never been so vulnerable after voting for Trump 96% of the time, confirming his far-right judges, and taking millions from special interests to strip healthcare from Mainers,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, expressing his conviction that in November the 73-year-old senator, who has held her Senate seat for 30 years thanks to her moderate positions that often put her at odds with Trump, will be defeated by Platner and thus “we will win the majority in the Senate.”
Indeed, with Republicans holding a 53-seat majority, Democrats would need to defend all their own seats and snatch four from Republicans to win the Senate, with hopes focused on North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, and especially Maine, the only one of these four states where Trump was defeated in 2024.
Platner’s victory in Maine also confirms the desire among the Democratic electoral base for a new generation of leaders who place particular emphasis on a populist economic message defending workers’ interests. The spokesperson for Senate Majority Pac, a super PAC aligned with the Democratic leadership, immediately referred to this, emphasizing that “Platner’s agenda supports workers and their families while Collins supports the Washington status quo.”
In the name of this message’s effectiveness, the Democratic leadership thus appears inclined to overlook, as voters have also done, the various controversies Platner has been involved in these weeks. Starting with a tattoo he displayed on his chest in social media photos, which alarmed many due to its resemblance to Nazi symbols. Platner, who explained he got the tattoo years ago in Croatia with his comrades, stated he “never realized it could resemble Nazi symbols,” claiming “a life dedicated to opposing fascism, racism, and Nazism,” which he defined, along with antisemitism, as “a plague on our society and our politics.” Platner later had the offending tattoo covered with another design.
This was followed by controversies created by revelations from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal regarding sexually explicit messages he allegedly sent to several women. Behavior described as “intimidating and alarming” by the ex-girlfriend of one of his comrades. Platner admitted to having gone through “a dark period where I struggled with undiagnosed post-traumatic syndrome, which I self-medicated with alcohol, certainly not behaving like a perfect boyfriend.”
