Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, right, introduces Graham Platner during a May rally at Thompson’s Point in Portland. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
BAR HARBOR — When Graham Platner took the stage on Friday, you wouldn’t know from the response that he was capping off a week filled with personal embarrassment and political turmoil.
The crowd of 600 at the Criterion Theatre roared when they saw their Senate candidate.
In a 25-minute speech, he gave the love right back.
“When hurtful things I said on the internet a decade ago came out into the public, as I shared my personal journey through PTSD and darkness, of recovery and accountability and growth, Maine had my back,” Platner said to applause. “Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated and weaponized, you have my back.”
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at a campaign event in Bar Harbor on Friday, night. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
Democratic supporters of Platner, a political newcomer, are largely sticking with their presumptive nominee for U.S. Senate, despite a week of negative stories from national outlets about his extramarital sexting and disturbing behavior alleged by three of his ex-girlfriends.
Earlier this spring, 20 Democratic state lawmakers endorsed Platner. The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reached out to each of them. Of the eight who responded, all said they continue to back the candidate. Platner’s campaign said it had its best day of fundraising in more than a month after The New York Times published its story about his relationship history.
State Rep. Vicki Doudera, D-Camden, said Platner has been open and honest about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and heavy drinking following four combat tours in the Middle East.
“Real people — authentic, genuine people — work to overcome and learn from their past challenges,” Doudera said. “Those are the people we want representing us. I voted for Graham Platner because he is a hardworking, smart guy who cares about the same Mainers that I care about. He’s going to have the working people in this state’s backs. That’s why he earned my vote.”
Some in Maine are tempering their enthusiasm for Platner. When asked whether they still support him, several elected officials and candidates who’d endorsed Platner did not respond to interview requests, or declined to weigh in.
Social worker Paige Loud, who’s running for the 2nd Congressional District seat, didn’t say she was pulling her support for Platner. But she expressed frustration about having to “answer for the bad behavior of men in our politics.”
“Let me say this clearly: I believe women,” Loud said. “I am a survivor of domestic abuse, sexual assault and intimidation by men. We do not get to pick and choose which women to believe.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidates Troy Jackson, Shenna Bellows and Hannah Pingree are part of a ranked-choice alliance bolstered by Platner. None responded to questions on Friday about whether they were rethinking their support.
Two other Democrats running in the 2nd District race — state Sen. Joe Baldacci and state Auditor Matt Dunlap — sidestepped questions, saying they were focused on their own campaigns. Dunlap’s response was particularly noteworthy given that he appeared at Platner’s rally on Friday.
Still, none of these candidates outright abandoned Platner. But in D.C., some party officials expressed worry that Platner’s past will make unseating Republican Sen. Susan Collins more difficult.
“Reports of threatening behavior and antisemitism like the ones made against Graham Platner are serious and deserve scrutiny,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said in a statement this week. “Character matters now more than ever.”
Many see defeating Collins, the only Senate Republican running in a state won by Democrats in 2024, as the party’s best pickup opportunity — and crucial to Democrats winning a majority in the chamber.
“Democrats in Maine and throughout the country have got to decide what is their priority: Justifying Graham Platner’s behavior or winning the Democratic seat in Maine,” Robert Zimmerman, a New York-based Democratic National Committee member, told Politico.
In a story published Thursday, New York Times reporters talked to six women who had been romantically involved with Platner at various points in his life. Three discussed disturbing behavior, including being physically intimidated by him.
The most explosive allegations came from an ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner from 2013 to 2015, and who is a longtime Republican operative. Fifield said he used to grab her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave a mark. She said he pulled her out of a cab one night by her wrists. In another incident, she said he twisted her arms behind her back during an argument, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side.
But Platner never hit, punched or physically injured her, she said. The Times could not corroborate Fifield’s claims, and Platner has flatly denied any allegations of physical violence.
Fifield also said Platner knew the meaning behind the Nazi symbol he had tattooed on his body far sooner than he has acknowledged publicly. Platner has denied this as well.
The Sullivan oyster farmer is expected to win next week’s Democratic primary, which would make him the candidate to face Collins in November. Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April but remains on the ballot.
Democrat David Costello, a former government official who ran for Senate unsuccessfully two years ago, is also on the ballot. And Bangor activist Andrea LaFlamme is running as a write-in candidate.
If more serious allegations emerge and force Platner out of the race before mid-July, the party could replace him. But Platner told MS NOW this week that dropping out hasn’t crossed his mind.
A spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party did not respond to questions sent by email.
A common theme for those supporting Platner is a desire for coverage of the Senate race to focus on issues as opposed to personal scandal.
Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, criticized “mainstream legacy” reporters for focusing on “imaginary scandals,” rather than focusing on Collins’ voting record and Platner’s policy platform, which includes Medicare for All and taxing billionaires.
“This is some of the ugliest, dirty politics I’ve ever seen,” Geiger told a Press Herald reporter. “This is some of the worst character assassination because of his platform. And it would be really nice if people like you and others started to actually talk about his platform instead of this kind of stuff.”
Attendees of Platner’s rally on Friday, which also featured Dunlap, Jackson and California U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, said that they too were sticking by him.
Ken Elowe, 70, a Bristol resident and retired wildlife official, said before the rally that he came because he knew the Bar Harbor-born Dunlap and wanted to hear Platner speak.
He said the recently surfaced controversies regarding Platner’s past, and way the candidate has responded to them, only redoubled his support for him.
“Anybody who can endure having their private life exposed and remain accountable and also stick to what he feels is most important to move forward has got my strong support,” Elowe said.
But there were Platner skeptics on hand Friday night as well.
Mike Turcotte, a Burnham resident who has previously run as an independent for the Legislature, was in the theater’s lobby, and pointed his finger in the direction of the stage as Dunlap was speaking. Dunlap’s “integrity is through the roof,” Turcotte said, noting he wishes the state auditor were in Platner’s place in the Senate race.
“(Platner) turned himself around from the abyss,” Turcotte said. “But a U.S. senator is (Maine’s) face to a national audience.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated on June 6 to correct a quote from Paige Loud, and on June 7 to reflect the correct party affiliation for Valli Geiger.
