Mills and Platner spar over attack ad in Maine primary to face Susan Collins
PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. Senate candidate Governor Janet Mills released an ad Tuesday criticizing comments posted online by her rival Graham Platner, part of an intensifying battle for Maine’s Democratic primary.
Mills and Platner are competing for the Democratic nomination against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose seat is key to Democrats’ plans to take back the Senate.
The Mills campaign released a video in which women read some of Platner’s old social media posts that were dismissive of sexual assault. A narrator in the ad says that Platner once wrote on Reddit that people shouldn’t get so drunk that they “end up having sex with someone they don’t want to.”
The women conclude that he is “a tyrant” and that they cannot “under any circumstances” vote for him. The video ends with a voiceover saying: “Graham Platner: The closer you look, the worse it gets. »
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for Maine Senate…
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Platner, an oyster farmer and U.S. Marine veteran from rural Maine, apologized for his deleted comments months ago when they resurfaced, and said he posted them while struggling with mental health issues after leaving the military. The comments showed him supporting political violence, rejecting rape in the military and criticizing police officers and rural America.
Ben Chin, Platner’s campaign manager, described Mills’ ad as a “desperate attempt at relevance.”
“This is why people hate politics and why there aren’t enough real people running for office: D.C. members who are so obsessed with their own power, and threatened by someone building a real workers’ movement, that they launch a barrage of attacks to try to tear Graham down,” Chin said in a statement.
The Mills campaign said in a statement that Platner’s comments show him “downplaying sexual assault and blaming survivors.” The campaign also sent a statement with comments from several Maine women criticizing Platner.
“Graham Platner’s comments are not only disgusting or disturbing, they are disqualifying,” Peggy Schaffer of Vassalboro, former vice chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party, said in a statement released by the Mills campaign. “These comments make him ineligible to run in any general election. »
The race pits Mills, 78 and a Democratic stalwart backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, against a much younger and much less experienced opponent who has filled town halls across the state with a populist message centered on the cost of housing and health care. Platner, 41, gained support from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.
Platner also faced questions over a skull tattoo reminiscent of a Nazi symbol. He said he got the tattoo during a night of drinking and was unaware until recently that it was associated with the Nazis. He covered the tattoo with a different design.
Mills attacked Platner earlier this month when she posted on social media that “for what it’s worth, I don’t have any tattoos.”
Platner released his own ad Tuesday that features the support of a Maine woman named Susan Collins who is not related to the Republican senator. She describes the senator as a “DC insider” and says Platner is a “Democrat with a backbone.”
The Collins campaign declined to comment on the dueling announcements or the dispute between his potential opponents. Collins, 73, was elected in 1996 and fended off numerous challenges from Democratic opponents over the years.
Democrats need to pick up four seats to win back the majority in the Senate, and they see a way to do that in Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio.
