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By Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari
Maine is central to Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate this fall. But Democrat Graham Platner’s vulnerabilities have underscored the challenge the party will face in ousting Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth term.
Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran who essentially came out of anonymity to launch a Senate campaign last summer, has parlayed grassroots support into becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine. He weathered revelations last fall about his controversial Reddit posts, including posts that were dismissive of rape, and about his chest tattoo of a Nazi symbol that he has since covered up.
But his campaign came under renewed scrutiny last week following reports that he had sent extramarital sexual text messages and a New York Times report that quoted an ex-girlfriend saying he’d been physically threatening to her — an allegation Platner denies — and that described a series of “volatile and ‘toxic’ relationships.”
