Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Platner Scrambles To Contain Fallout, Reportedly Issues NDAs Amid Campaign Turmoil

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is working to contain fallout from his election campaign by entering into nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with staff, according to a report released Thursday.

Amid scrutiny of her previous posts on Reddit, Platner’s former political director Genevieve McDonald — who resigned in October — claimed that her campaign began handing out NDAs to staffers around the same time, according to a Politico report.

Platner offered a staffer $15,000 to sign an NDA…hint, hint to come
Wait for his Corps buddies to discuss his Nazi tattoo

Platner reshuffles campaign, sends out NDAs as he struggles to get ahead of controversies https://t.co/0TjQ2VOj6e via @politico @adamwren

-Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) October 24, 2025

McDonald told the outlet that she refused to sign an NDA before resigning, saying, “The campaign offered me $15,000 to sign an NDA. I did not accept the offer. I certainly could have used that money. I left my job to work on Platner’s campaign, thinking it was something different than what it is.” (RELATED: Maine oyster farmer’s father somehow found $60,000 to give to Democrats despite ‘working class’ background)

The nondisclosure agreement reportedly began circulating among the Senate candidate’s staff shortly after Platner faced backlash over his resurfaced posts on Reddit.

In a statement to Politico, the Platner campaign said the $15,000 offer to McDonald was a standard severance package.

A campaign spokesperson told the outlet that the team recently hired Spruce Street “to take over campaign compliance to establish standard practices that had not previously been put in place. Some of these standards had to be instituted retroactively, but of course, we are not requiring anyone who has previously participated in the campaign to do so. Genevieve McDonald was offered a severance package that is the standard for all campaign employees and contractors. “

Spruce Street Consulting has ties to progressive candidates such as Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Politico reported.

The documents were sent electronically on Sunday by campaign contractor Victoria Perrone to McDonald, who had resigned days earlier, the outlet reported. She was canceled by the campaign at 7:04 p.m. Wednesday, several days after she left and just hours after Politico requested comment on the campaign’s use of NDAs, according to the report. (RELATED: Maine Mamdani: So-called ‘grassroots’ oyster farmer has deep ties to the far left)

The document was sent by Perrone, a political compliance specialist and president and founder of Spruce Street Consulting. Perrone confirmed by phone that Platner was a client but declined to comment further to Politico.

McDonald said she understood the $15,000 payment offer was contingent on signing the NDA, sharing a screenshot of a text message from Perrone to the point of sale.

We need to give young people something to believe in. pic.twitter.com/hsaNPWTBht

– Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 24, 2025

“If you can return it to me before the end of the day, I can make your payments,” the message said, according to the report.

In addition to handing out NDAs, Platner tapped his friend Kevin Brown — a veteran of the presidential campaigns of former President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — to serve as campaign manager. He also hired an in-house lawyer as part of an effort to stabilize his struggling campaign, Politico reported.
Brown, the new campaign manager, declined to comment on the matter to Politico. Platner’s campaign has not yet responded to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.

“Platner’s discovered Reddit posts do even more to deny him any credibility with real working-class people.”@ambermarieduke exposes the truth behind the Democrats’ so-called “authentic” candidate in the latest Unfit to Print. Sign up below ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/V679ToAlrE

– Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 23, 2025

Her once-promising campaign has been overshadowed in recent days by a wave of negative reports about her past, surfacing shortly after Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills — establishment Democrats’ favored candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins — joined the primary race. (RELATED: Lefties Suddenly Change Tune on ‘Locker Room Talk’ After Graham Platner’s Reddit Posts Leaked)

Platner expressed remorse for an alleged Nazi symbol tattoo, as well as other Reddit posts that have resurfaced — including a deleted 2018 post implying that violence is sometimes necessary to bring about social change. CNN initially reported that another deleted post on Reddit called police “all bastards.”