{"id":132219,"date":"2026-06-07T19:58:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/graham-platner-to-take-questions-from-maine-voters-as-he-looks-to-stabilize-senate-campaign\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T20:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:18:21","slug":"graham-platner-gets-a-lift-from-friendly-maine-crowd-after-week-of-damage-control-in-senate-campa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/graham-platner-gets-a-lift-from-friendly-maine-crowd-after-week-of-damage-control-in-senate-campa\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Platner gets a lift from friendly Maine crowd after week of damage control in Senate campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Graham
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) \u2014 Graham Platner was met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd Sunday at a town hall-style event in Maine as the Democrat looks to advance his Senate campaign after reports about his past treatment of women just days before the state’s crucial primary.<\/p>\n

The Democratic primary is still seen as Platner’s to win, but he is facing questions about his past that could make it difficult to defeat longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to win on Tuesday and we\u2019re going to win in November and we\u2019re going to take power back for the people in this country,\u201d Platner said to about 400 people clapping and cheering him on in Portland.<\/p>\n

The New York Times on Thursday reported an ex-girlfriend’s allegations that Platner repeatedly grabbed her by the shoulders during arguments and once twisted her arm behind her back and locked her in a room. Platner has repeatedly called those allegations of violence untrue.<\/p>\n

Other Platner ex-girlfriends interviewed by the Times described positive experiences, while some said he was volatile and insulting. That story came days after news reports revealing that Platner had exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married.<\/p>\n

Despite the allegations, no major Democrats who had previously endorsed Platner have rescinded their support.<\/p>\n

And at Sunday’s event, attendees avoided asking about Platner’s past and instead asked him about the U.S. Supreme Court, what committees he would want to work on once in the Senate, and whether he supports a federal wealth tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has blown my mind is that everybody knows what\u2019s going on,\u201d Platner said in response to a question about what outsiders watching the Maine Senate race are getting wrong about the state’s voters.<\/p>\n

Platner said he hoped eventually to join the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as the committees overseeing agriculture and health care, while mentioning he would like to work with Kentucky’s Republican Sen. Rand Paul because of his foreign policy positions.<\/p>\n

Platner took a swipe at Sen. John Fetterman, who has criticized the Senate candidate recently, calling him a \u201ccreep\u201d and likening him to a \u201cNazi sympathizer.\u201d Some have questioned whether Platner would be similar to Fetterman, who has a reputation for speaking and voting against his party,<\/p>\n

Platner said as a senator it\u2019s important to build relationships and that \u201d you can\u2019t just go down there and be John Fetterman,” while also calling the Pennsylvania Democrat an expletive. He added that Fetterman \u201csaid mean things\u201d about him recently.<\/p>\n

Platner held a rally<\/a> with California Rep. Ro Khanna in Bar Harbor on Friday, where he received a standing ovation and declared that Mainers \u201chave my back.\u201d<\/p>\n

A combat veteran, Platner has repeatedly said that he struggled with alcohol and post traumatic stress disorder after his military service, but says he is a changed man.<\/p>\n

The latest news has deepened some Democrats\u2019 nervousness about Platner, who already faced scrutiny over online posts that were dismissive of sexual assault<\/a> and a skull tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner has apologized for the posts and covered up the tattoo.<\/a>, saying he didn’t realize its significance when he got it.<\/p>\n

Rahm Emanuel, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate who spent the weekend in neighboring New Hampshire, said the \u201cjury is still out\u201d on whether Platner can beat Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is holding their breath whether this is the start of something or the end of something,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s the end, that\u2019s one thing. If it\u2019s the beginning of something and we\u2019re not done, that\u2019s another thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurt Fedora, 62, a mental health worker from Buxton, said he attended Sunday’s event to hear Platner talk about working-class issues and fighting corruption. He said he\u2019s unmoved by recent revelations about Platner\u2019s history, and considers them a smear campaign by conservative opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there will be something to it, but they\u2019re really reaching far to try to pin something on him. And it\u2019s politics as usual,\u201d Fedora said.<\/p>\n

Others worried that Platner at times reminded them of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Debbi Conley, a 69-year-old retiree from Gorham, said she wanted to learn more about Platner even as she’s almost certain he’ll win on Tuesday, but she\u2019s skeptical of him at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people have been frustrated with Susan Collins, so they\u2019re looking for alternatives,\u201d Conley said. \u201cMy concerns with Graham Platner are that he\u2019s talking about change, but sometimes it reminds me of the same talk that Trump had like \u2018drain the swamp\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed to this report from Warren, New Hampshire. Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\"Graham
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Graham
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Graham
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty) PORTLAND, Maine (AP) \u2014 Graham Platner was met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd Sunday at a town hall-style event in Maine as the Democrat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-132219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132219"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132243,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132219\/revisions\/132243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132219"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=132219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}