politics
Maine Democrats head to primary amid fresh allegations against leading candidate Graham Platner
Graham Platner faces voters one day after rallies in Portland and Bar Harbor. Janet Mills' name stays on the ballot after she dropped out earlier this spring.
Jun 9, 5:00 AM·3m read3 sources
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U.S. Senate primary on June 9, 2026, with Graham Platner as the leading candidate despite recent allegations from former girlfriends. Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, spoke to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event in Portland on June 7 and at a rally in Bar Harbor on June 5.
He served three tours in Iraq with the Marines and one tour in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard. He has been diagnosed with PTSD from his service. Platner addressed the allegations at the Bar Harbor rally.
"When hurtful things I said on the internet a decade ago came out into the public, as I shared my personal journey through PTSD and darkness of recovery and accountability and growth, Maine had my back," he said. "Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated, and weaponized, you have my back.
And when politically motivated, serious and false accusations are made against me.
The allegations include inflammatory Reddit comments from roughly 2016, a skull and crossbones tattoo obtained in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia, and sexually explicit messages sent to several women while married. Platner covered the tattoo with a new design in 2025 after learning it resembled a Nazi symbol. He apologized for the Reddit posts after they surfaced in fall 2025.
He called the latest claims of rape fantasies, heavy drinking, and violent episodes untrue. Rep. Ro Khanna of California organized a rally with Platner on June 5 or 6. "I’m more concerned about making it clear that we’re opposed to misogyny, those relationships were toxic and volatile, there’s no excuse for that," Khanna said.
"I talked to Graham, and he says he was at a very dark period, he had come back from two tours of duty in Iraq as an infantryman seeing violence and death. " Khanna added that Platner "really grew as a person when he came back to Maine, and he was an oyster farmer, and he found peace, and he is ashamed of that period.
