With just days remaining before Maine Democrats head to the polls, Senate candidate Graham Platner traveled to Washington this week seeking support from Democratic lawmakers as his campaign continues to battle a series of personal controversies that have dominated headlines in the final stretch of the primary race.
The closed-door meeting at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters brought Platner face-to-face with several prominent Democratic senators, many of whom appeared eager to shift the conversation away from the growing list of allegations surrounding the candidate and toward the broader political stakes of the election.
Among Platner’s most vocal defenders was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who expressed confidence that Democrats remain well-positioned to compete in Maine regardless of the negative attention surrounding the campaign.
“I’m very confident we are going to win Maine,” Gillibrand told reporters after the meeting.
When asked directly whether she still had confidence in Platner himself, the senator doubled down.
“I do. I have confidence that we are going to win Maine and I have no doubt,” she said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont took a similar approach, focusing less on the allegations and more on what he views as the political forces aligned against Platner. Sanders pointed to the large amount of money being spent on advertising in the race, arguing that wealthy interests view the candidate as a threat.
“All I can tell you is that the wealthiest people in this country have now reserved close to $100 million in TV ads in a small state like Maine,” Sanders said. “So what are the billionaires worried about? Why are they spending so much money trying to defeat this guy?”
“The answer is that he’s going to stand up to the oligarchies,” Sanders added.
Not every senator appeared eager to weigh in. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts declined to answer questions about the controversies as she entered the meeting, while Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont emphasized that the final decision belongs to Maine voters.
“That’s going to be up to voters in Maine,” Welch said when asked about Platner’s prospects.
The candidate’s Washington visit comes at a difficult moment for his campaign. In recent weeks, Platner has faced scrutiny over reports that his wife discovered sexually explicit text exchanges with multiple women shortly after the couple married in 2024. The allegations sparked widespread media coverage and renewed questions about the candidate’s judgment and personal conduct.
Platner has publicly acknowledged marital difficulties while attempting to move the campaign beyond the controversy.
“Amy and I went through something hard — because of me,” he said in a statement. “We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day.”
The candidate has argued that voters are more concerned with policy issues than personal scandals.
“What I’ve learned throughout this campaign is that people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids,” Platner said.
Additional controversies have emerged as the primary approaches. Reports uncovered a Kik account allegedly linked to Platner that featured a revealing photograph of the candidate wearing only a towel. His campaign responded by stating that the account dated back to a period when he was single and had long since been deleted.
Platner has also faced criticism over a tattoo alleged to have connections to Nazi symbolism as well as resurfaced online comments, including a 2019 Reddit post targeting Purple Heart recipient Teddy Daniels.
Despite the mounting scrutiny, Platner remains a leading contender heading into the June 9 Democratic primary, where he will face David Costello for the nomination. The winner will advance to a high-profile general election showdown against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, one of the GOP’s most established figures in the Senate.
