Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner exchanged sexual texts after marriage, report says

Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, exchanged sexual texts with several women after marrying his wife two years ago, according to a report.

Platner’s campaign confirmed the text exchanges to Politico after the Wall Street Journal reported that his wife, Amy Gertner, told a campaign aide about the messages after he launched his Senate bid.

Gertner discovered the messages months after the couple married in 2024, the Journal reported. She made the private revelation before Platner held a campaign rally last year that was supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but the aide decided the texts were a private matter for the couple, the campaign said.

Gertner said in a statement to the Journal: "I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend. In the months since, I have had to watch as she spread malicious gossip to anyone who would take her call. I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind — and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy."

She added that she and her husband "did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before."

Gertner added, "I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t."

Platner, an oyster farmer and veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has also faced other controversies, including a since-removed tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol and past comments on Reddit minimizing sexual assault and making crude remarks about masturbation.

A recent poll from the University of New Hampshire showed Platner holding a 51% to 42% lead among likely Maine voters. He is considered the presumptive Democratic nominee after Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in April.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., reiterated his support for Platner on Saturday. "I am proud of @grahamformaine for having the character to stand up against the war in Iran, against genocide, and against an unfair & lopsided economy," he wrote on X. "I am proud of him for having a vision for a new deal for our time. Excited to campaign with him June 5!"

Collins has called Platner too extreme for Maine. "I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters," she previously told Fox News Digital. "But, obviously, I don't take anything for granted."