Graham Platner accuses national news outlets of ‘journalistic malpractice’ for sexting reports

Graham Platner at a press conference announcing the
Maine AFL-CIO endorsement of him on May 1. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner accused two national news outlets of “journalistic malpractice” for reporting that the presumptive Democratic nominee sent sexually explicit messages with up to a dozen women after getting married in 2023.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told her husband’s campaign that he had sexted with several different women. The outlets also reported that he had a profile on Kik, a messaging app popular for people seeking casual hookups.

Platner blasted the reports in a short press conference with reporters on Sunday, saying national news outlets prefer gossip over issues important to voters, such as healthcare, childcare and education.

“These people are going to try to make this race about anything but what it’s supposed to be about, which is policy,” Platner said Sunday with his wife by his side.

When asked if the stories were true, Platner said, “no, that’s the amazing part.”

“The Wall Street Journal (and) the New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer,” he added. “I’m sorry, (but) that’s frankly, journalistic malpractice.”

A campaign official acknowledged that Platner had in fact sent messages to up to six other women, the Times reported.

In a statement to the Press Herald, a Platner campaign official said the candidate acknowledges the texts exist, but that he’s frustrated with the “sensationalization” of the national coverage.

The reports represent another distraction for the campaign trying to unseat five-term Republican Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate. Both parties see Maine’s seat as key in determining which party will control the Senate. Platner became the presumptive Democratic nominee when Gov. Janet Mills announced she was suspending her Senate campaign in April. Also on the ballot is long-shot challenger David Costello, and Andrea LaFlamme is mounting a write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Gertner initially told a Platner campaign aide about her husband’s messages ahead of a Labor Day rally last year with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the papers reported.

The aide, Genevieve McDonald, left the campaign in October, after reports surfaced about a cache of Reddit comments from Platner that contained sexist, homophobic, racist and other vulgar language.

Later that month, Platner also disclosed that he had a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol. After Platner went public with his tattoo, McDonald expressed doubt about Platner’s claim that he didn’t know the skull and cross bones was a Totenkopf until reporters began asking about it. Platner had the tattoo covered shortly after.

Platner has apologized for some of the posts, saying he made them while struggling with depression and PTSD after four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said those posts no longer reflect who he is today. He was then quoted using a slur for people with disabilities earlier this year — a comment for which he also apologized.

Amid the latest national furor, Gertner defended her husband in a written statement Saturday and blamed McDonald for violating her trust, saying she was “deeply hurt by her betrayal.”

Gertner also released a five-minute, straight-to-camera video. While walking down a rural road and swatting away black flies, she talked about the challenges she and her husband have faced since getting married in 2023, and how they are receiving counseling, both as a couple and individually.

“No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage,” she said. “I want my marriage, and I want to be married to Graham.”

Gertner described Platner as “wonderful, dynamic and probably a genius.”

“I think it’s shameful behavior to spend time and energy and resources on negative ads and negative stories on Graham when all he’s trying to do is improve the lives of people who work for a living,” she said. “That’s it. He doesn’t have any other agenda, which is what I think people are trying to dig up.”