Graham Platner will rally with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Maine this weekend.
The rally will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Portland-By The Bay at 88 Spring St. in Portland, according to Platner’s campaign. Warren endorsed Platner in March.
Platner’s rally with the stalwart progressive from Massachusetts comes as the Sullivan oyster farmer appears to be gearing up to be the Democratic Party’s champion in this November’s fight to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
Platner has been buoyed by recent polling that gives him a strong lead over his most prominent contender in the Democratic primary, Gov. Janet Mills.
Old Town native David Costello also is vying for the Democratic nomination.
The insurgent candidate who stormed onto the political scene last year came under fire last fall over unearthed inflammatory internet posts and revelations that he had a chest tattoo depicting a skull superimposed over crossbones, resembling the Totenkopf symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.
Platner denied knowing that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol. He got the tattoo in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. While on leave, Platner and other Marines went to Croatia, where they got “very inebriated” and decided to get tattoos. He said that they all picked “terrifying” designs off the wall.
He has since gotten it covered.
Platner has tried to distance himself from his past internet posts, including numerous deleted posts in which Platner asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggesting that women concerned about rape not drink around certain people, among others.
Mills, whose campaign ads have hit Platner hard over his internet posts, has said that Republicans would make “mincemeat” of Platner if he emerges as the party’s standard-bearer for the November election.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. She has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, who has been ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Republican President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
Republicans are largely aligned with Collins, who commanded 67% support among likely primary voters, according to the University of New Hampshire’s February Pine Tree State Poll.
The Senate race is shaping up to be an expensive one, with the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, pledging to spend at least $42 million to help Collins defend her seat. If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.
BDN writers Christopher Burns and Leela Stockley contributed to this report.
