Just the Beginning
"I’m humbled and proud to officially be your Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate to take on Susan Collins and the billionaire class she represents," Platner said in a statement
June 9, 2026
It’s official: the Democrats are heading to the midterms with an oysterman from Maine.
Graham Platner, the dark horse candidate who bulldozed his way past Governor Janet Mills, the Democratic Party’s preferred candidate for Senate, won the state’s barely contested primary on Tuesday night despite a laundry list of scandals and controversies. Unless those crises compound enough to force Platner to drop out of the race, he’ll go to the polls in November as the Democrats’ best hope for retaking the Senate, in a highly competitive race with incumbent Senator Susan Collins.
