Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine faced a fresh controversy Tuesday after reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with women outside his marriage, the latest in a series of personal scandals that have tested the loyalty of party leaders who view his campaign as essential to recapturing the Senate.
Information about the texts, which occurred during his marriage, was shared with his campaign last year by his wife, Amy Gertner, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The Guardian reported that it independently confirmed the details. The Platner campaign released a statement from Gertner in which she said she had been “deeply hurt” by the disclosure, which she attributed to a former campaign staffer she had confided in. “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,” Gertner said.
Top Democratic leaders responded Tuesday by closing ranks around Platner. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with the candidate for more than an hour and a half at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and told reporters afterward, “We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, an early endorser, also met with Platner and dismissed questions about the candidate’s personal conduct. “People can’t afford healthcare. Can’t afford groceries. Can’t afford to put gas in their cars. And I think it might be a good idea if we focused on the important issues facing the working families of Maine and this country,” Sanders said.
The sexting disclosure adds to a pattern of past behavior that has resurfaced during Platner’s campaign. In October, Reddit posts from 2013 to 2021 showed Platner using anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, calling white rural Americans “stupid” and “racist,” and making derogatory comments about sexual assault survivors. Platner later told the hosts of Pod Save America that as a Marine stationed in Croatia he got a tattoo of a skull and crossbones resembling the Totenkopf emblem used by the Nazi Schutzstaffel, which he said he only recently understood and has since covered up. Platner attributed those comments and actions to post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I witnessed violence and horror at a scale that I was not quite prepared for, all in the service of something that I now believe was pointless,” he said in a direct-to-camera mea culpa.
Platner, a former Marine and oyster fisher who was a political unknown before 2025, rose rapidly with a plainspoken progressive message that resonated on social media. He won endorsements from Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego, among others, and pushed Maine Gov. Janet Mills to suspend her own Senate campaign in April. Mills’ name remains on the primary ballot. Platner’s campaign has also been marked by his willingness to confront national media and business interests. In late May, an advertisement for his campaign was pulled from a Boston Red Sox broadcast after the team objected to its content.
The timing of the sexting disclosure, less than a week before the primary, has rattled some Democratic voters. At a late-April town hall in Sabattus, a voter pressed Platner on whether any remaining controversies could surface. “Is there anything you need to share with us?” Carolyn Greeley, 68, asked. Platner assured her there was nothing left. “I’ve gone on dates, I’ve had girlfriends, I’ve gone through life. I have relationships that have ended. I have one relationship that didn’t,” he said. Greeley later told The Guardian she was “really afraid for” Platner and what further opposition research might reveal.
Democrats need to net four seats to win control of the Senate, and Collins is the only Republican up for reelection who represents a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024. The primary will take place June 9, with the winner set to face Collins in November.