BLUE HILL, Maine — In a surprising turn of events, Graham Platner, a former Marine and oyster farmer, emerged victorious in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday night. Despite the shadow of controversy, notably a Nazi tattoo on his chest, Platner secured a commanding win.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:23 pm ET, as Platner surged ahead with 73.3% of the votes, even with only about 20% of the ballots tallied. His victory was particularly striking as he triumphed over Gov. Janet Mills, who had ceased her campaign efforts in April.
Addressing his supporters in his hometown, Platner candidly acknowledged his past mistakes, stating he is “far from perfect.” However, he promised to stand as a “senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator.” His victory speech underscored his commitment to fighting for ordinary citizens against the influence of wealthy elites and corporations.
“I’ve made mistakes in my life. Mistakes that I regret, that I live with and that I continue to learn from,” Platner remarked, underscoring the theme of personal growth and redemption. He passionately argued that if one believes in the possibility of political change, they must also believe in personal transformation. Platner credited much of his personal journey to his wife, whom he thanked for helping him turn his life around. “And the reason I believe that is because I lived it,” he added.
As he prepares to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November, Platner used his speech to launch a pointed critique of his future opponent. He accused Collins of being “as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves,” setting the stage for what promises to be a fiercely contested Senate race.
The scandal-plagued Dem will face GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races. Platner dedicated the latter half of his speech to hurling fiery broadsides at Collins, panning her “as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves.”
Early voting in Maine kicked off on May 11, before two former girlfriends of Platner’s accused him last week of physical abuse and other troubling behavior.
Then, on the eve of the primary, Platner’s former campaign political director Genevieve McDonald wrote a damning Washington Post op-ed warning Maine voters that he was unfit to become a senator.
“I quit the campaign in October, disturbed by what I learned about the candidate and concerned about his potential impact on the Democratic Party’s prospects in my home state,” McDonald warned.
McDonald had also confirmed on the record that Platner’s wife disclosed to her that the candidate had sexted at least half a dozen other women since the pair married in 2023.
Platner was discovered to have an account on Kik, an anonymous chat platform notorious for facilitating hookups and sexual messages to young girls.
The Democrat’s profile featured a mirror selfie of him shirtless, with a towel around his waist while his hand and cellphone covered up his notorious “Totenkopf” tattoo.
Voters at polling centers in Portland and Augusta told The Post they were still supporting Platner — though some cast their vote for him reluctantly.
“I mean he’s doing that himself,” Kristina Areccha told The Post when asked about whether the scandals make Platner look bad. “Where is the bar in politics?”
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.
“I think we need new people in our government. We can’t just keep recycling the same old people. It’s just not working,” Kim Sorensen, 62, told The Post.
“I am a little hesitant; I truly was.”
Last week, Platner was rocked by a New York Times report detailing his “unsettling” behavior toward former flames.
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’s claims, which he described as “politically motivated.”
Critically, Fifield claimed that Platner was fully aware of the Nazi origins of his tattoo, describing the symbol as “my Totenkopf” and claiming he got it alongside his comrades because “they were like a death unit, they were killers” like Hitler’s SS.
The outlet reviewed messages Fifield sent to friends in August 2025, in which she told them that Platner “has a Nazi tattoo on his chest” weeks before the body art became public knowledge.
“Well, she certainly didn’t send that text to me,” 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’t.
The Democrat’s since-deleted Reddit feed has also revealed a trove of wildly offensive comments, including suggestions that sexual assault victims need to “take some responsibility,” trashing of a Purple Heart recipient veteran, slander of rural Americans as racist, and defenses of urinating on dead Taliban soldiers.
“I think it’s concerning. You want to have good character for people who are in there,” voter Ann Farrer, who is in her 40s and read the bombshell New York Times piece on Platner, told The Post. “But also, people don’t need to be angels to be good representatives.”
“Right now I’m neutral on this part.”
Farrer said she voted for Platner in the primary but has voted for Collins in the past and is open-minded about November.
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’s restaurant as his only customer.
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’s Senate seat, widely seen as their top pickup opportunity in the upper chamber for 2026.
Platner has a 7.4 percentage point edge over Collins in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, which underestimated her standing by double digits during her 2020 re-election bid.
