Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner released a new populist advertisement on Monday, leaning into his anti-oligarchy message as he turns the page on another controversy that hit his campaign this weekend.
Despite news breaking this weekend that Platner had previously sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women while married to his wife, who knew about the texts, Platner came out on Monday on the offensive. He has fired off a letter targeting the financial disclosure receipts of his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and has released the new advertisement aimed at firing up Maine’s working-class voters.
“For decades the powerful have taken piece by piece, store by store, hospital by hospital, shore by shore,” the Platner campaign ad says. “They have taken, they took so much they began to think we didn’t even exist at all. But they don’t know Maine. They don’t know the power that we have here. We are taking back what is ours.”
Platner has fielded controversy after controversy throughout his campaign. From addressing the sexually explicit messages over the weekend to addressing a now-covered-up skull tattoo resembling Nazi SS imagery, Platner has managed to stay up in the polls against Collins as he relies on his leftist, populist message to carry him through each scandal. Like President Donald Trump’s, Platner’s past scandals haven’t seemed to stick or matter much to his voters.
Platner’s recent ad also evokes a bit of Trump-esque rhetoric as he says his campaign is about Maine “taking back what is ours.” But Platner’s ad is about working-class Mainers “taking back” from powerful, wealthy elites, while Trump’s rhetoric has been tied to illegal immigration. The Trump administration launched “Operation Take Back America” in 2025 to target crime from illegal immigrants in the United States.
“They say this movement came out of nowhere. They don’t know Maine. This came out of a whole lot of somewheres: from lobstermen who’ve worked too hard for too long, only to be pushed to the brink, from towns where the closest hospital is hours away, from workers who pay more in taxes than billionaires,” the Platner ad says.
Platner became the Democratic Party’s de facto nominee in late April, when Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) pick, Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME), dropped out of the primary race, citing fundraising concerns. Some members of the Democratic Party, which was slow to embrace Platner, have voiced concerns with the candidate due to his many controversies. But Platner has kept the support of progressive New Englanders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), throughout each scandal.
Platner and Collins are all but assured to face off in the Nov. 3 election for purple Maine’s U.S. Senate seat.