Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner sent explicit texts to women while married

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

Platner’s campaign confirmed the text exchange to Politico following a report in the Wall Street Journal alleging that he mentioned the texts to a campaign aide as they began exploring potential political liabilities after his wife, Amy Gertner, launched her Senate bid.

WSJ said Gertner discovered these messages months after the couple married in 2024 reported.

According to the newspaper, his campaign team said Platner had been a candidate for a campaign against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., last year. He made the private statement before he held a campaign rally sponsored by , but the campaign said his aide decided the texts were a private matter for the couple.

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Gertner said in a statement to the Journal: “I gave deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend. In the months since, I have had to watch him spread malicious rumors to anyone who answered his phone. I entrusted this person with the most private part of our lives – the early days of our marriage, before any campaign was even on our minds – and I was deeply hurt by his betrayal and invasion of our privacy.”

She and her husband added, “We did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counseling. We were honest with each other about things that weren’t easy. And we got through it not because of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we loved each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage is stronger today than ever.”

Gertner added: “I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband who has accompanied me through the best and worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed and it won’t change.”

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Platner, an oyster farmer and veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, had faced a series of controversies before this; These included a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that was later removed, past controversial comments on Reddit that minimized sexual assault and made crude remarks about masturbation, and a deleted post in which he claimed a wounded soldier “didn’t deserve to live.”

Despite all this, a recent University of New Hampshire poll showed Platner with a 51% to 42% lead among Maine voters.

Graham Platner with his wife Amy Gertner earlier this month. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Platner is seen as the likely Democratic nominee after Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in April.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., reiterated his support for Platner on Saturday.

“I’m proud of @grahamformaine for having the character to stand up against the war, genocide, and unjust and unbalanced economy in Iran,” she wrote on X. “I’m proud of him for having a vision for a new deal for our time. I’m excited to campaign with him on June 5!”

Collins said Platner was too extreme for Maine.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner met last weekend during a “Fighting the Oligarchy” tour at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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“I believe this will be the outcome of Maine voters,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “But frankly, I don’t take anything for granted.”

“The radical is someone like Susan Collins, who has repeatedly supported illegal and insane foreign wars that have enabled us for decades to enact policies that will help corporations and billionaires at the expense of working people,” Platner defended in an interview with Fox News Digital a week later.