Gov. Janet Mills is sharpening her attacks against her insurgent U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner in a new ad released this week.
It’s the second attack ad from the term-limited governor as she vies for the Democratic Party’s nomination to face off against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins this November.
The 30-second ad features a voiceover reading a selection of Platner’s comments made over the years on the website Reddit. In those comments, Platner used homophobic slurs and other derogatory comments, as well as his musings about sexual assault, saying that women should “not get so f—-ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?”
The ad also features Platner’s remarks about making online comments that he’s “not ashamed of” during an interview with The New Yorker. But in that interview, Platner was referencing other comments. When his inflammatory internet posts were unearthed last fall, he distanced himself from many of those comments and told The Advocate that his use of homophobic slurs was “indefensible.”
The Sullivan oyster farmer currently has about 46% support among likely Democratic primary voters, compared with 39% for Mills, according to a March poll from Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research. It was a tighter margin than the University of New Hampshire’s latest Pine Tree State Poll, released in late February, which gave him a 38-point lead over Mills. That poll found Platner commands a strong lead over progressive and socialist-leaning voters.
He also boasts endorsements from unions and prominent progressive U.S. senators, such as Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, while Mills has support from major Democratic Party figures like Chuck Schumer of New York.
His gains in the polls came despite a barrage of bad press last fall.
Platner’s campaign was beset with controversy over his internet posts, many dating back to 2013, and 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.
At the same time, his campaign saw a number of high-level departures, including his national financial director, treasurer, campaign manager and political director.
Despite the barrage of negative headlines, Platner vowed to stay in the race.
His internet posts have garnered renewed attention after the Mills campaign featured them in an attack ad earlier this month. Mills has said that Republicans would make “mincemeat” of Platner if he emerges as the party’s standard-bearer for the November election.
Democrats already face an uphill battle 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, once 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 commands 67% support among likely voters in the Republican primary, according to that 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 last month 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.
