Gov. Janet Mills hit Graham Platner with his own words on sexual violence in a new ad Tuesday, putting the spotlight on old posts unearthed this fall that have not stopped the oyster farmer’s insurgent run through the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.
The campaign ad depicts several prominent Democrats — all women who support Mills — reading Reddit comments from Platner in 2013, including that women should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f—ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to,” and “act like an adult for f—ks sake.”
It is the first time that the comments from Platner have been the focus of a TV ad campaign, putting to the test an argument from Mills supporters that voters will recoil at his comments when they are put to them one by one in ad campaigns sure to come from Republicans backing U.S. Sen. Susan Collins if he represents Democrats in November.
“The closer you look, the worse it gets,” the campaign says in the ad.
There are high stakes in the race that is key to determining Senate control in the midterm election. The Senate race is on track to shatter a record set in Collins’ last campaign, with almost $80 million already spent on advertising in the race by early March.
The comments that Mills’ ad focuses on were first reported by the Bangor Daily News in October on the heels of coverage from CNN and Politico about his ideology and thoughts on political violence. Days later, it was revealed that he had a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that he quickly covered up.
His campaign has roared on since then. He trailed Mills by 10 points in a poll from Maine-based Pan Atlantic Research in December but led her by 7 in their survey released earlier this month. Other polls have shown him up on her and Collins, he trounced both in fundraising during the last part of 2025, and he continues to draw large crowds across the state.
After Platner kicked off his bid in August, the 41-year-old from Sullivan gained early support from unions and prominent progressives including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. In October, he released a video on X apologizing for a range of inflammatory comments from his past.
“I was in different places that I’m not in now, I had different feelings that I don’t have now, I had different thoughts and opinions that I certainly don’t have now, but I am very proud of the person I am today,” he said. “I’m sorry for this. Just know that it’s not reflective at all of who I am.”
Mills, who is 78 and is the first woman to serve as Maine’s governor, said in February that if Platner faced off against Collins in the general election, the “Republican machinery … would make mincemeat of him.” But she has lagged him over the last few months, and the ad portrays an aggressive strategy to knock him down among an electorate skewed toward women.
The ad features a voiceover actor portraying Platner and reading his posts aloud. The women in the video are former Maine Democratic Party Vice Chair Peggy Schaffer, former state Sen. Lynn Bromley of South Portland, marketing professional Brenda Garrand and Jill Barkley, a Mainer who works for a national group that seeks to elect Democratic women.
