{"id":1662,"date":"2026-06-10T05:09:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662"},"modified":"2026-06-10T05:09:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:09:36","slug":"scandal-plagued-graham-platner-clinches-dem-maine-senate-primary-ive-made-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662","title":{"rendered":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: ‘I’ve made mistakes’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

BLUE HILL, Maine \u2014 Controversial oyster farmer and Marine veteran Graham Platner easily won Maine\u2019s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday night despite a string of scandals, including sporting a Nazi tattoo on his chest. <\/p>\n

Read more NBA does not upgrade Victor Wembanyama\u2019s shove of Jalen Brunson to flagrant foul<\/a><\/p>\n

Platner was projected the winner by the Associated Press at\u00a09:23 pm ET, and jumped\u00a0to an early lead with\u00a073.3% of the vote\u00a0with about a fifth of the\u00a0ballots\u00a0counted, beating\u00a0Gov. Janet Mills, who stopped campaigning in April.<\/p>\n

In his victory speech, held in the rural town where he was born, Platner acknowledged he\u2019s \u201cfar from perfect\u201d but pledged to be a \u201csenator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made mistakes in my life. Mistakes that I regret, that I live with and that I continue to learn from,\u201d Platner said, while celebrating his grassroots campaign against billionaires and greedy corporations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you believe as I do that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,\u201d he declared, before crediting his wife with helping him find redemption.\u00a0\u201cAnd the reason I believe that is because I lived it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scandal-plagued Dem will face GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November in one of the nation\u2019s most competitive Senate races.\u00a0Platner dedicated the latter half of his speech to hurling fiery broadsides at Collins, panning her\u00a0\u201cas spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early voting in Maine\u00a0kicked off on May 11, before two former girlfriends of Platner\u2019s accused him last week of physical abuse and other troubling behavior.<\/p>\n

Then, on the eve of the primary, Platner\u2019s former campaign political director\u00a0Genevieve McDonald wrote\u00a0a damning Washington Post op-ed warning Maine voters that he was unfit to become a senator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI quit the campaign in October, disturbed by what I learned about the candidate and concerned about his potential impact on the Democratic Party\u2019s prospects in my home state,\u201d McDonald warned.<\/p>\n

McDonald had also confirmed on the record that Platner\u2019s wife disclosed to her that the candidate had sexted at least half a dozen other women since the pair married in 2023.<\/p>\n

Platner was discovered to have an account on Kik, an anonymous chat platform notorious for facilitating hookups and sexual messages to young girls.<\/p>\n

The Democrat\u2019s profile featured a mirror selfie of him shirtless, with a towel around his waist while his hand and cellphone\u00a0covered up his notorious \u201cTotenkopf\u201d tattoo.<\/p>\n

Voters at polling centers in Portland and Augusta told The Post they were still supporting Platner \u2014 though some cast their vote for him reluctantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean he\u2019s doing that himself,\u201d\u00a0Kristina Areccha told The Post when\u00a0asked about whether the scandals make Platner look bad. \u201cWhere is the bar in politics?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Nancy Mace gets trounced in South Carolina gov\u2019s race after Trump snub \u2014 makes a surprise endorsement<\/a><\/p>\n

Many committed Platner backers cited their eagerness to see Collins lose as their top reason for voting for him and called for pols to have a shot at redemption. Others said they simply want to see new blood sent to Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need new people in our government. We can\u2019t just keep recycling the same old people. It\u2019s just not working,\u201d Kim Sorensen, 62, told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a little\u00a0hesitant; I truly\u00a0was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Platner was rocked by a New York Times report detailing his \u201cunsettling\u201d behavior toward former flames.<\/p>\n

One of the women, Lyndsey Fifield, alleged that Platner rough-housed her, on one occasion pulling her out of a cab by the wrists and at another point twisting her arm behind her back before trapping her in a room. Platner has denied Fifield\u2019s claims, which he described as \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critically, Fifield claimed that Platner was fully aware of the Nazi origins of his tattoo, describing the symbol as \u201cmy Totenkopf\u201d and claiming he got it alongside his comrades because \u201cthey were like a death unit, they were killers\u201d like Hitler\u2019s SS.<\/p>\n

The outlet reviewed messages Fifield sent to friends in August 2025, in which she told them that Platner \u201chas a Nazi tattoo on his chest\u201d weeks before the body art became public knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, she certainly didn\u2019t send that text to me,\u201d Platner told MS NOW hours after the Times story was published when pressed about how she knew it was a Nazi tattoo while he supposedly didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The Democrat\u2019s since-deleted Reddit feed has also revealed a trove of wildly offensive comments, including suggestions that sexual assault victims need to \u201ctake some responsibility,\u201d trashing of a Purple Heart recipient veteran, slander of rural Americans as racist, and defenses of urinating on dead Taliban soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s concerning. You want to have good character for people who are in there,\u201d voter Ann Farrer, who is in her 40s and read the bombshell New York Times piece on Platner, told The Post. \u201cBut also, people don\u2019t need to be angels to be good representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I\u2019m neutral on this part.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Farrer said she voted for Platner in the primary but has voted for Collins in the past and is open-minded about November.<\/p>\n

Platner served in the Marines in the early 2000s, where he did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, he has been an oyster farmer, though financial disclosures list his mother\u2019s restaurant as his only customer.<\/p>\n

If Platner were to agree to step aside by July 13, there is a path for Democrats to replace him as their nominee for Maine\u2019s Senate seat, widely seen as their top pickup opportunity in the upper chamber for 2026.<\/p>\n

Platner has a 7.4 percentage point edge over Collins in the\u00a0RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, which underestimated her standing by double digits during her 2020 re-election bid.<\/p>\n

Read more MSG rips \u2018party pooper\u2019 Mamdani, NYPD for street lockdown for Knicks Game 4 \u2014 but scaled-down watch party is on<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scandal-plagued oyster farmer Graham Platner easily won his Maine Democratic primary, but saw defections from primary voters to Gov. Janet Mills (D), who stopped campaigning in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nScandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scandal-plagued oyster farmer Graham Platner easily won his Maine Democratic primary, but saw defections from primary voters to Gov. Janet Mills (D), who stopped campaigning in April.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: ‘I’ve made mistakes’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662\"},\"wordCount\":1015,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662\",\"name\":\"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1662#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: ‘I’ve made mistakes’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"Scandal-plagued oyster farmer Graham Platner easily won his Maine Democratic primary, but saw defections from primary voters to Gov. Janet Mills (D), who stopped campaigning in April.","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: ‘I’ve made mistakes’","datePublished":"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662"},"wordCount":1015,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662","name":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: 'I've made mistakes' - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-10T05:09:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9eb3c2943d966e37e1a340edc0d53a75.webp","width":1200,"height":799},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1662#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scandal-plagued Graham Platner clinches Dem Maine Senate primary: ‘I’ve made mistakes’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}