Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary is getting an unusual kind of campaign lift: trivia nights and casual gatherings that turn a little-known candidate’s personal story into audience participation.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, at a local community center in Kittery, Maine, a host asked supporters a question about a tattoo Graham Platner said he received while serving in the Marines. The answer offered in the trivia format was that it was “claimed to be a Neo-Nazi tattoo (totenkopf),” as supporters played along. The event also paired the game with other social details—soda and cookies, and music from Dropkick Murphys, a Boston punk band that Platner likes—while the campaign worked to draw attention to Platner as an alternative to more established political figures.
Platner is a first-time candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine and is running against Gov. Janet Mills in the June 9 primary. The AP reported that the winner of that primary will then take on Sen. Susan Collins in the general election. Mills is in her second term, while Collins has been in the Senate for multiple terms.
The campaign’s approach appears aimed at changing how voters experience Platner—less as an unknown candidate and more as someone supporters can meet and talk with. The AP described the trivia audience as people who seemed to know details about Platner, including questions that reflected the campaign’s framing and familiarity, rather than standard policy messaging. In one instance, the trivia host asked which “characteristics” make Platner “the best candidate to beat Susan Collins,” and one of the options was that he is “handsome and has a deep voice,” while the game’s correct answer was that he “has grown as an individual and is honest.”
Beyond Kittery, the AP reported that Platner’s campaign has used a wide mix of events—town halls, canvassing and phone-banking training—as well as “happy hours” at breweries and other gatherings tied to community activity. In a campaign tally that runs from his August announcement through the end of March, Platner’s team said it hosted 50 town halls throughout Maine and accused Mills of holding none. On at least one night when the trivia game was scheduled in Kittery, the AP reported that Platner was instead in Fort Kent for a town hall, more than 350 miles away.
The campaign’s visibility comes as both rival campaigns say the premise of higher accessibility is wrong. The AP reported that Mills and Collins campaign officials rejected the idea that Platner is more available to voters, and they pointed to their own candidate’s workload as an elected official. Mills campaign spokesperson Tommy Garcia said voters trust Mills and see her “leading our state every single day,” while Collins spokesperson Blake Kernen said town halls are often organized by “partisan or dark money groups” and that Mills “prefers smaller group meetings” with fewer people speaking and “often” a higher level of civility.
As the primary date nears, the AP said the focus on Platner has also included questions about past behavior and controversy that his campaign and supporters say can be forgiven as he presents a “redemption” narrative. The article described lingering concerns about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo associated by critics with Nazi imagery, as well as questions about older online posts that he has since disavowed. It also reported that Platner has faced scrutiny for appearing on a podcast hosted by Nate Cornacchia, a retired Green Beret who the AP said has been accused of antisemitism.
The AP further reported that spending and scrutiny are increasing. It cited an analysis by AdImpact that Platner had outspent Mills on advertising since entering the race in August, with $4.8 million compared with Mills’ $1.5 million. The article also said Mills recently released a video in which women read some of Platner’s older social media posts described as dismissive of sexual assault, even as Platner’s defenders said Democrats may be more willing to back candidates who acknowledge past mistakes and show they have changed. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, who endorsed Platner, said that in the current political environment there is “more appetite” in the Democratic Party to elect people who are not “purely polished” and have not spent their entire lives on the election track.
Even as Platner’s campaign tries to broaden its reach, the AP said some Democratic political observers expect an uphill vote choice in Maine’s primaries. Michael Franz, a government professor with Bowdoin College, told the AP that Maine Democratic primary voters have often picked the known candidate, typically an older officeholder, and he described Platner as a “high-risk, high-reward type of candidate,” suggesting he could either emerge as a new national figure or end up receiving less than a majority of the vote.