Graham Platner’s Maine Senate bid wobbly with news of sexting infidelity

Graham Platner at an event hosted by Bernie Sanders in Orono, Maine, on 24 May. Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP View image in fullscreen Graham Platner at an event hosted by Bernie Sanders in Orono, Maine, on 24 May. Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP Graham Platner’s Maine Senate bid wobbly with news of sexting infidelity Democratic candidate already cites PTSD for racist, sexist, homophobic online posts and has covered up Nazi tattoo Midterm primaries – live results and updates Graham Platner met on Tuesday with Democratic leaders in Washington DC as the embattled Maine Senate candidate contends with yet another revelation threatening his campaign, which is at the center of his party’s hopes of regaining control of Congress. Platner did not respond to questions from reporters and quickly entered a waiting car as he exited the meeting, which stretched for more than an hour and a half at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). A spokesperson for the DSCC did not respond to a request for comment. Platner’s campaign has been captivating and tumultuous in turns before the 9 June primary. A political unknown before 2025, the Maine oyster fisher and marine combat veteran’s plainspoken progressive pitch to voters resonated on social media and sparked conversation about the way Democratic candidates should position themselves against authoritarianism. His public appeal, polling numbers and considerable fundraising power earned the endorsement of senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego and other progressive stalwarts. Platner’s rise sidelined the Democratic Maine governor Janet Mills’s campaign to unseat Republican senator Susan Collins, who is running for a sixth term . Democrats must net four seats to win control of the Senate, and Collins is the sole Republican up for re-election who represents a state Kamala Harris won two years ago. However, Platner’s personal conduct has raised questions about his character and electoral chances in November. Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women during his marriage, according to information his wife shared with his campaign last year, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported, and which the Guardian has confirmed. Journalists learned of the texts from the campaign’s former political director Genevieve McDonald, who obtained them from Amy Gertner, Platner’s wife, in the common process of proactive opposition research. The Platner campaign released a statement from Gertner, in which she said she had been “deeply hurt” by McDonald’s action. “I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said. “I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives – the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind.” The incident, however, built on other findings of past indiscretions. Reddit posts from 2013 to 2021 – from when Platner was aged 24 to 37 – resurfaced in October, in whi