Amy Gertner released a video over the weekend defending her husband, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, against media reports detailing his past sexually explicit text messages with several women. In the informal, selfie-style footage, Gertner characterized the coverage as baseless and said the public scrutiny of their private life was unjustified.
Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran running for a Senate seat in Maine, published the five-minute video to his campaign platforms. The footage, which shows Gertner walking along a road, marks the latest controversy to hit his campaign as the primary race against Democratic Governor Janet Mills continues.
“I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip,” Gertner said in the video. “No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage.”
Gertner did not address the specific details of the reported text messages directly in the recording. Instead, she framed the broader media attention as an intrusion into her family’s life, adding that “being married is hard.” According to reporting, Gertner first told the Platner campaign about the text exchanges last year.
The release of the video comes as Platner’s campaign navigates increased scrutiny from media outlets and political observers. The Democratic primary in Maine has drawn national attention, with multiple organizations reporting on the candidate’s past communications. Gertner’s statement aims to refocus attention on the campaign’s broader objectives while dismissing the coverage of the messages as irrelevant.