Graham Platner Won't Back Schumer as Democratic Leader Despite Cordial Call

ELLSWORTH, Maine — Graham Platner says he still wouldn't support Sen. Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader, even after a perfectly cordial conversation with the top Democrat.

Platner, an oyster farmer and Army and Marine veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, faces longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in this year's midterm elections in blue-leaning Maine. The high-profile, competitive 2026 race is one of a few nationwide that could determine if Republicans hold their slim Senate majority.

The first-time candidate, backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, became the Democrats' presumptive nominee after two-term Gov. Janet Mills ended her campaign two weeks ago. Mills had trailed Platner in polling and fundraising. Schumer had recruited Mills to run.

Platner described his phone call with Schumer after Mills dropped out as anything but awkward. "It was not awkward at all. He called to congratulate me on a good race, and nothing brings people together like agreeing that Susan Collins shouldn't be in the U.S. Senate. So we had a perfectly cordial conversation."

Platner said the Democratic Party now seems ready to support his campaign. But he added, "we're going to keep doing what we've done up here, because it's obviously what's working." The topic of his opposition to Schumer did not come up.

Platner pushes an economically populist agenda against corporate power and for working-class interests. He is among a small but growing group of progressive Senate candidates who say they won't back Schumer as leader if elected.

In a Fox News Digital interview last week in Maine, Collins was asked if Platner is too far left for state voters. "I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don't take anything for granted," said the senator, who seeks a sixth term.

Platner calls Collins the radical one. "My response is that, trying to bring down costs for working Mainers. Trying to make sure that our communities don't get emptied out because housing has become unaffordable for young people. Trying to create a system in which we are not seeing our health care system utilized as a way of just screwing working people all for the benefit of a health care insurance CEO, I don't think that's radical at all," he said. "I think in fact that what most Mainers agree is what we have to be doing."

He added, "What's radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars. She voted to send me to Iraq, and now she continues to vote to support the war in Iran. I'm sorry that I think is much more radical to the people of Maine than having a health care system that doesn't collapse before our eyes."

Republicans quickly targeted Platner after he became the nominee less than two weeks ago. A group backing Collins ran an ad highlighting his Reddit comments from over a decade ago on women and rape, plus a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol.

One 2013 comment, later deleted, said people worried about rape should not "get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to." Platner apologized for the posts after they surfaced last fall. He got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with Marines in Croatia and covered it last year upon learning of its resemblance.

Platner dismissed the ad. "The Democratic establishment tried to use all those attacks against me and failed miserably," he said of a Mills campaign spot. "Now the Republican establishment is going to try to use the exact same attacks, and that will also fail miserably."

He said Mainers see through such tactics. "They're not happy to see millions of dollars poured into negative TV ads in a state that, quite frankly, could use million dollars of investment in lots of other things instead of just negative television. And I don't think it's going to work, because it hasn't up until this point."

Platner added, "we knew it was coming the whole time. Look, man, I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somebody wants to say....mean things about me on television, I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

He has also faced questions over Reddit posts from five years ago calling himself a "communist" and "socialist." "You should read the comments in context. It's very clear I'm joking," he said. "It's called shitposting. It's when you argue with people on the internet and try to bother them. So, yeah, no, it's very obviously not true."

Platner spoke after casting an early primary ballot and holding an event near a gas station to unveil his energy plan, which calls for eliminating the national gas and diesel tax, freezing electricity rate hikes and creating a clean energy fund.

He called the plan central to his campaign. "I think energy costs right now are one of the things that are most damaging working families in this state. It is, in my opinion, essentially an existential crisis that we face."

Democrats highlight living costs amid strong special election showings they hope signal congressional gains. Republicans face headwinds from inflation, gas prices linked to an unpopular Iran war and low approval for President Trump.

Collins addressed cost-of-living blame in her interview at a food bank she helped expand with federal funds. She noted her work on the low-income heating assistance program, which "helps low-income families and seniors stay warm during the cold winter months." She recently ensured release of the final funding tranche given high needs and costs in Maine.

Collins also stressed her opposition to cuts in food stamp benefits and other low-income programs.