The political director for Graham Platner’s U.S. Senate campaign resigned Friday after Platner’s past online posts featuring numerous controversial remarks resurfaced this week.
Former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald of Stonington was one of the most prominent Maine Democrats who joined Platner’s campaign after a buzzy August launch saw the Sullivan oysterman and military veteran draw national attention in addition to big crowds at his town hall-style rallies. She sent her resignation letter exclusively to the Bangor Daily News.
The past week has dealt Platner, 41, the biggest test yet in his nascent campaign, and it coincided with Gov. Janet Mills joining the Democratic primary Tuesday for the chance to take on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in 2026. McDonald’s exit showed discord among the campaign that includes many progressive strategists from out of state.
CNN first reported Thursday on since-deleted posts Platner made a few years ago on Reddit that included Platner calling rural, white Americans “racist” and “stupid” and describing all police as “bastards.” Other old posts suggested violence is necessary to achieve social change, according to Politico’s reporting.
The BDN followed up Friday with a story about more Reddit posts from 2013 in which Platner asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggested people concerned about being raped should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f—-ked up.”
McDonald, who was consulting for Preti Strategies before joining Platner’s team, wrote in Friday’s resignation letter the past statements “were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate.”
”While I am empathetic to Graham’s experiences and respect his personal journey and growth, I cannot overlook the volume and nature of his past comments, many of which were made as an adult, not as a young man,” McDonald wrote.
The Platner campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on McDonald’s resignation.
It is the first crack in the structure of Platner’s campaign that has otherwise enjoyed plenty of momentum, seen packed crowds at the town hall-style events, signed up about 11,000 volunteers and raised roughly $5 million in its first two months.
That included raising $500,000 in donations in the 24 hours after Mills entered the race Tuesday with plenty of backing from national Democrats who believe the 77-year-old governor has the best chance of unseating the 72-year-old Collins.
Platner, who served in the Marines and Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, told Politico Thursday in response to initial reports on some of the old posts he was “f—-ing around on the internet at a time when I felt lost and very disillusioned with our government who sent me overseas to watch my friends die.”
Platner and Bristol resident Jordan Wood, a 36-year-old former Capitol Hill operative, are the governor’s chief opponents in a Democratic primary that saw Maine Beer Company cofounder Dan Kleban drop out Tuesday to endorse Mills. The primary will offer a look at whether Democratic voters want an upstart or a well-known figure with a long record.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
