Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee challenging U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, kicked off Memorial Day weekend by airing a campaign ad on the cable station that carries Boston Red Sox games. The ad accused the team’s ownership of ruining the storied franchise through private equity management, according to Platner’s campaign. Within hours, the station pulled the ad from the broadcast.
Platner immediately responded by criticizing the removal and using it to amplify his populist message against private equity — a central theme of his campaign. “We ran an ad during last night’s Red Sox game exposing how private equity is making everything in our lives worse, and it got pulled midway through the game by a station owned by Red Sox ownership,” Platner said in a statement Saturday. “And of course, the Red Sox blew a 4-0 lead to lose the game.”
The candidate’s campaign portrayed the sequence as a deliberate effort to appeal to the team’s devoted fanbase while provoking its wealthy owners. The move aligns with Platner’s broader strategy of connecting local cultural touchstones to his economic critique, a tactic he has used throughout his primary campaign with events such as trivia nights and happy hours.
Platner is seeking to unseat Collins, a five-term Republican who announced in February that she will run for reelection despite having disclosed a tremor that she said would not affect her ability to serve. The Maine race is one of several Democratic targets in the party’s effort to recapture the Senate majority in 2026.