Graham Platner, a first-time Democratic Senate nominee from Maine and a veteran, has become the center of a pitched 2026 battle against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, drawing scrutiny over past online posts, campaign attacks, and an uneasy relationship with party leaders even after a cordial phone call with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
Platner says he still wouldn’t support Sen. Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader going forward, even after holding what he described as a “perfectly cordial conversation” with the top Democrat in the chamber. He told reporters the call happened after Gov. Janet Mills ended her campaign, and that Schumer called to congratulate him on a good race.
Platner is an oyster farmer and an Army and Marine veteran who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and he emerged as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after Mills dropped out. He is backed by progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and will face Collins in a blue-leaning state that could decide control of the Senate.
Sen. Collins, a six-term incumbent, has framed Platner as too far to the left for Maine voters and has said, “I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don’t take anything for granted.” Republicans are already pressing that theme and gearing up to make the race a test of whether their slim majority survives the midterms.
Platner casts himself as an economically populist, anti-corporate voice focused on the working class, arguing for policies to lower costs and shore up communities that are struggling with housing and health care. He put it bluntly about his priorities: “My response is that, trying to bring down costs for working Mainers. Trying to make sure that our communities don’t get emptied out because housing has become unaffordable for young people. Trying to create a system in which we are not seeing our health care system utilized as a way of just screwing working people all for the benefit of a health care insurance CEO, I don’t think that’s radical at all,” Platner said. “I think in fact that what most Mainers agree is what we have to be doing.”
He then turned that argument toward Collins, accusing her of siding with corporate interests and hawkish foreign policy, and offered a pointed critique: “What’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars. She voted to send me to Iraq, and now she continues to vote to support the war in Iran,” Platner said. “I’m sorry that I think is much more radical to the people of Maine than having a health care system that doesn’t collapse before our eyes.”
Platner’s military service is central to his personal narrative; he enlisted in the Marines in 2003, served three combat tours in Iraq, joined the Maryland Army National Guard in 2010 for a fourth tour in Afghanistan, and later returned to Afghanistan as a security contractor. He uses that background to argue he can withstand attack ads and hardball politics coming from both parties.
Republicans quickly seized on controversies from his past, including a decade-old Reddit comment and a chest tattoo that drew criticism for resembling a Nazi symbol until he covered it. One of the posts cited in ads quoted a 2013 message that people concerned about rape should not “get so f—ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” Platner apologized for the old posts and has said the tattoo was covered after he learned of the resemblance.
Platner has pushed back, saying online posts were often jokes or “shitposting” and that critics are misreading context: “You should read the comments in context. It’s very clear I’m joking,” he told reporters. “It’s called shitposting. It’s when you argue with people on the internet and try to bother them. So, yeah, no, it’s very obviously not true.”
He also warned that attacks from both parties won’t derail him, saying, “The Democratic establishment tried to use all those attacks against me and failed miserably,” and predicting a similar outcome from Republican ads. Platner argued that millions poured into negative TV ads are a waste in a state that needs investment elsewhere and insisted Maine voters will see through the ads, adding, “Look, man, I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somebody wants to say….mean things about me on television, I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”
On policy, Platner is pushing an energy plan he says targets high costs: he has proposed eliminating the national gas and diesel tax, freezing electricity rate increases, and setting up a fund for clean energy projects. Collins has highlighted her work on low-income heating assistance and federal support for food banks, stressing opposition to cuts “in food stamp benefits and in other programs that designed for low-income families because I know how important they are,” as she defends her record with voters worried about the rising cost of living.
