Maine Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Platner Claims Lead Over Governor Janet Mills in Primary

U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner has distributed a memo to donors and allies asserting that his primary contest against Governor Janet Mills is effectively over, two months before the June 9 primary election. The memo, first seen by Axios on Thursday, references three recent polls—both public and private—that show Platner leading Mills by 27 to 38 percentage points.

One of the polls was commissioned by Platner's campaign. Platner's campaign manager, Ben Chin, wrote in the memo that the campaign feels emboldened by the polling data and plans to pivot toward the general election while maintaining primary efforts. > "Another day, another poll with Graham up big in the primary.

" — Ben Chin, Platner campaign manager (Axios) Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran, has received support from progressive figures including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He is challenging Mills, a 78-year-old two-term governor endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

The race is part of the Democratic effort to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins.

campaign has aired advertisements featuring women who criticize Platner's past social media comments on rape.

These ads began airing three weeks before the memo's release, and the referenced polls were conducted afterward. Platner's team did not address the ads in the memo. A Platner campaign strategist stated that the campaign will remove an ad responding to Mills' negative advertisements later this week.

An earlier commercial in which Platner expressed regret over his comments ceased airing on television last week, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Platner's campaign has started airing ads critical of Senator Collins and plans to release additional ones in the coming weeks.