Despite inflammatory comments, Platner holds 9-point lead over Collins in new poll

[mystery-ak]

Despite inflammatory comments, Platner holds 9-point lead over Collins in new poll
The progressive candidate backed by Bernie Sanders holds 51%-42% edge over the six-term Republican senator
By Paul Steinhauser Fox News
Published May 28, 2026 11:27am EDT

The intense media scrutiny and Republican attacks facing Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine over his controversial and inflammatory past online comments and his now-removed but well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol don't appear to be slowing him down.

A new public opinion poll shows Platner holding an upper single-digit lead over longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in a race that is among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim 53-47 majority in the Senate in this year's midterm elections.

Platner, a progressive candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, stands at 51% support among likely Maine voters, with Collins at 42%, in a Pine Tree State poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Six percent of respondents were undecided, with 2% backing other candidates.

The survey is the latest public opinion poll to indicate Platner, an oyster farmer and Army and Marine veteran who served in combat in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, leading Collins, a moderate Republican who is seeking a sixth six-year term in the Senate representing left-leaning Maine.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/despite-inflammatory-comments-platner-holds-9-point-lead-collins-new-poll-

[Fishrrman]

This is gonna be tough for Collins.

Like that guy said...
"When people see a weak horse, and then they see a strong horse, they will choose the strong horse..."

[Bigun]

Polls!

[mountaineer]

Legal Phil
@Legal_Fil
People really do not appreciate how insane it is that Platner went to work for Blackwater—which had to change its name because it was so reviled due to scandal—and now is trying to pass himself off as some poor kid who was sent off to war.

https://twitter.com/RCPolitics/status/2060125561406529639

[mountaineer]

The Calvin Coolidge Project
@TheCalvinCooli1
🚨Report: Maine Senate Democrat Candidate Graham Platner's wife discovered sexually explicit in several messages with multiple women on his phone and alerted campaign staff during the early stages of his campaign
Via: The Wall Street Journal
5:57 PM · May 30, 2026

[mountaineer]

Achtung, baby!

[Hoodat]

New York Post
@nypost

Lefty Senate candidate Graham Platner reportedly sexted numerous women on hookup app Kik - and wife flagged it to campaign https://trib.al/pUVfEra



4:59 PM  ·  May 30, 2026  ·  54.6K Views

https://x.com/nypost/status/2060843545540370926

[Wingnut]

Nazi Platner isn't going to win.    These pollster are smoking crack

[libertybele]

Ok, but Collins is a RINO (though the article calls her a moderate) and she normally votes along with the DEMS anyways.  If she loses her seat, that's one RINO down. What's really the downside, other than Maine electing a liberal pervert??

[Hoodat]

Ok, but Collins is a RINO (though the article calls her a moderate) and she normally votes along with the DEMS anyways.  If she loses her seat, that's one RINO down. What's really the downside, other than Maine electing a liberal pervert??

Collins can be counted on 50% of the time.  Herr Platner can be counted on 0% of the time.

[mountaineer]

Reminds me of a hostage video.

Magills
@magills_
Platner cucked his wife and then made her post a video defending him. Absolute sociopath.
8:43 PM · May 30, 2026

https://twitter.com/grahamformaine/status/2060870067189932409

[Bigun]

Collins can be counted on 50% of the time.  Herr Platner can be counted on 0% of the time.

 

[mountaineer]

WILD: Graham Platner's staff physically shield him and bodycheck reporters out of the way at the end of the rally.
Smallest Platner event we have ever been to in terms of crowd size.

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/2061134853387554911

[Hoodat]

Democrats Are Trying to Pull a Biden on Platner But the Window Is Narrow

Fernando Ehrenreich  |  May 31, 2026

The party that spent a decade casting itself as democracy’s last line of defense has a candidate problem in Maine, and its solution is to make sure the candidate its own voters chose never reaches the November ballot.

Graham Platner, the oyster farmer and Marine veteran who buried the establishment’s preferred choice by nearly thirty points, is suddenly the target of a coordinated effort to shame him out of a race he is about to win. The mechanism is narrow, the timing is suspicious, and the goal is unmistakable.

Maine Democrats want to do to Platner exactly what national Democrats did to Joe Biden in 2024, swap out the inconvenient nominee for one the people in charge prefer, and call the result a rescue.  .  .  .

.  .  .  Maine law gives the party a path, but a tight one. A candidate nominated at a primary may withdraw by 5 p.m. on the second Monday in July, which this year falls on July 13. The state party committee then has until 5 p.m. on the fourth Monday in July to name a replacement on the general election ballot.

The entire scheme depends on a single fact that no statute can supply. Platner has to quit on his own. There is no provision to strike a healthy nominee against his will. The party cannot fire him. It can only persuade, pressure, and shame him into walking away after he has already won.  .  .  .

https://discernreport.com/democrats-are-trying-to-pull-a-biden-on-platner-but-the-window-is-narrow/

[Hoodat]

Maine Dem candidate Graham Platner sends wife to defend against claims he was posting on creepy hookup app: ‘Like a hostage video’

Ryan King  |  May 31, 2026  |  12:49 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Embattled Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner put forward his wife to answer for him after he was outed as having a profile on a creepy hookup app, Kik — as the Dem candidate himself stays silent.

Amy Gertner, who married Platner in 2023, said that she was “deeply hurt” about the campaign’s former political director, whom she tipped off about the sexting, confirming the messages to the press.

The video drew widespread criticism from observers who said it appeared that Platner was letting his wife take the heat for him.

“It looks and sounds like a hostage video,” one X user posted. “Blink twice if you need rescuing, Amy.”

The randy oyster farmer is believed to have had sexting affairs with up to a dozen women, according to reports.

“It makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on, like healthcare and education and childcare,” Gertner groused  .  .  .

https://nypost.com/2026/05/31/us-news/graham-platners-wife-defends-against-claims-he-was-posting-on-creepy-hookup-app/

[mountaineer]

Lawyerforlaws
@lawyer4laws
I suspect Platner has always had issues:
After he protested the Iraq War-
He volunteered for the Marines.
After 4 yrs of active duty,
he enlisted in the Maryland Army NG and deployed to Afghanistan.
After that, he applied to and was hired by military contractor Blackwater (Constellis) and returned to Afghanistan.
10:42 AM · Jun 1, 2026


And this guy claims a 100% disability from his military service - for what, I don't know. PTSD - and yet he returned voluntarily as a contractor?

[mountaineer]

Posted: https://x.com/magi_jay/status/2061466980029169972

From that thread:
So, Platner draws no wages from the Oyster Farm located on his friend's private island. The primary purchaser of his oysters is his mother. His sole income is his (suspiciously high) VA benefit of 4.8K/m. He claims to use a portion of this to repay his home-loan to his father.

His VA is normal,he is 100% with dependant. A lot of Congresspeople receive disability. That is not the issue. We don't know the scope of his disability.Let's be honest in the criticism his past behavior reflects future performance in a job that requires a smidgen of integrity.

1) He has said he makes 4.8/month. That's much higher than 100% with 1 spouse, so he'd need to be claiming SMC or TDIU.
2) His campaign said he didn't draw wages from his company so as not to affect his disability.
3) GOP thinks he falsified something, given this combo of facts

[mountaineer]

Wait, are we talking primary or general election? Is Platner running against Collins or another Democrat? Because who's this pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ nut?

https://twitter.com/Costello4Senate/status/2061459459080089988

[mystery-ak]

Van Jones: Dems Sticking with Platner Because Collins Won’t Stop ‘Deranged’ Trump

Monday on CNN’s “The Source,” network political commentator Van Jones said Democrats were sticking with scandal-ridden Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner because Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) won’t stop “completely deranged” President Donald Trump.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/06/01/van-jones-dems-sticking-with-platner-because-collins-wont-stop-deranged-trump/

[andy58-in-nh]

Wait, are we talking primary or general election? Is Platner running against Collins or another Democrat? Because who's this pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ nut?

https://twitter.com/Costello4Senate/status/2061459459080089988

Costello is a postmodern socialist Democrat who supports single-payer health care, higher taxes, abolishing the Electoral College, ranked choice voting, no voter ID, and mandatory greenhouse gas emissions caps, and who has never once held a private sector job.

But as far as we know, he has never had a Nazi tattoo. So there's that.

[mountaineer]

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner admitted to buying cocaine and boasted about doing drugs “on the government dime” while “backpacking through Europe” on paid leave from the military (Story at Free Beacon):

https://twitter.com/FreeBeacon/status/2061799934899163616

[mystery-ak]

 Democrats spooked that Graham Platner has more skeletons in his closet: ‘It’s a certainty’
By Ryan King
Published June 2, 2026, 6:00 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Buckle up.

Beltway Democrats are quietly bracing for more politically damaging details to emerge on embattled Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner and fretting that he could jeopardize their already narrow path to retaking the Senate this cycle.

“It’s not a possibility that more will come out. It’s a certainty. Someone who behaves like this almost never behaves like this in isolation. I’m sure there’s a pattern of this kind of behavior he’s had throughout his life, a Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill told The Post.

“I’m sure more will come out in terms of his relationships with women, and he’s an embarrassment to the party.”

Platner’s scandal has put Democrats in a pretty uneasy position. The horny oyster farmer is beloved by elements of the base, whom lawmakers don’t want to alienate. Yet, he is also increasingly becoming a liability and giving Republicans fodder.

more
https://nypost.com/2026/06/02/us-news/democrats-sweat-over-graham-platner-brace-for-more-damning-news-to-tank-maine-senate-bid/

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/PollTracker2024/status/2061538961286103293

[ScottinVA]

Ok, but Collins is a RINO (though the article calls her a moderate) and she normally votes along with the DEMS anyways.  If she loses her seat, that's one RINO down. What's really the downside, other than Maine electing a liberal pervert??

Chuck Schumer setting the agenda is the worst part of it for me.

[mystery-ak]

Maine Gov. Janet Mills reminds voters that she is still on the ballot amid Graham Platner scandal

Mills told Sun Journal columnist Steve Collins that although she suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination, she was still an option for voters who do not wish to vote for Platner.
By Misty Severi

Published: June 1, 2026 10:45pm


Democratic Maine Gov. Jane Mills reminded voters Sunday that she is still on the ballot in next week's Senate Democratic primary as constituents grapple with reports that candidate Graham Platner allegedly exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women earlier in his marriage.

The revelation came out this weekend that Platner's wife Amy Gertner alerted his campaign to the texts in August 2025 after discovering the messages earlier that year.

Campaign aides reportedly reviewed the matter during an internal vetting process shortly after Platner launched his Senate bid, but staff members ultimately decided the issue was personal and did not pose a political threat to the campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mills told Sun Journal columnist Steve Collins that although she suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination, she was still an option for voters who do not wish to vote for Platner.

“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’ but I simply suspended active campaigning," Mills said. "I am still on the ballot."

more
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/maine-gov-janet-mills-reminds-voters-she-still-ballot-amid-graham-platner

[DefiantMassRINO]

Many Massholes move to Maine for retirement.  They'll vote for anything with a 'D' after it.

[libertybele]

Many Massholes move to Maine for retirement.  They'll vote for anything with a 'D' after it.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to retire to Maine. Perhaps for the supposed excellent healthcare?

Maine is moderately retirement-friendly. While it boasts a low crime rate, excellent healthcare, and completely exempts Social Security benefits, its high cost of living and taxation on most 401(k) and IRA withdrawals can make it somewhat expensive for retirees.