With Graham Platner as likely Democratic nominee, Maine voters grapple with their choices

Shane Hill of Caribou hadn’t had U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner on his radar in early fall, or any of Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ challengers for that matter.

Now, having become acquainted with his candidacy and seeing Gov. Janet Mills’ recent exit from the race, Hill said of Democrats, “I think the Republicans are going to sweep them.”

A registered Republican, Hill doesn’t support President Donald Trump, but he thinks Collins is doing well at picking her battles and that Maine needs her seniority in Congress.

That’s the viewpoint Platner hopes to shift as he pivots to the general election campaign, all the while Collins is doubling down on it.

The power of Maine’s longest serving senator, particularly with appropriations, led many to repeatedly reelect her, an outcome that defied public polling last time around. But that authority, and how she wields it, has been continuously tested under Trump’s second term, as he’s cut access to healthcare and started a war that’s led to skyrocking gas prices, among other issues that impact Mainers’ daily lives.

Both candidates are making their cases in new ads dropped since Mills left the race. Collins focuses on her ability to bring federal dollars home, not mentioning her Democratic opponent. Meanwhile, Platner takes direct aim, painting her as selling out to the president. “Susan Collins’s charade is over,” Platner says in the ad. “A performative politics that enables the destruction of our way of life is disqualifying.”

Mainers are grappling with what’s disqualifying for them as they contemplate a Platner versus Collins match up, given that the Sullivan oysterman and military veteran is vastly farther ahead in polls than lesser known Democrat David Costello (and declared write-in Andrea LaFlamme).

Some longtime Collins supporters like Hill aren’t convinced by Platner. But neither are some voters within his own party, calling into question whether a common goal of wanting to oust Collins will be enough.

Turning his own party

After Mills’ exit, some Democrats were quick to back Platner, even U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who’d endorsed the governor and touted her as the only one capable of beating Collins.

“What I look for in leaders is that they deliver results,”said South Portland Mayor Elyse Tipton, who endorsed Mills in April. “For me, Janet Mills, had a record to show her strength as a leader and that she was not going to be bullied… I think Graham Platner also exhibits strength, and that is part of his appeal. He hasn’t yet had a chance to prove that strength in an elected office.”

But, above all, Tipton wants to see Democrats regain control of the U.S. Senate.

“My personal vote will reflect that in November,” she said, though declined to say who she’ll vote for in the June 9 primary.

Mills also hasn’t said who she’ll vote for, though it won’t be Collins. The two-term governor hasn’t endorsed her now-former rival after suspending her campaign on April 30, citing the lack of funds she’d been able to raise, though she’d also been trailing in polling.

Some of Mills’ supporters are sticking with her. South Portland resident Lynn Bromley said she will be casting her primary vote for the governor, who will still appear on the ballot, and won’t vote for Platner in the general election.

“I was never going to vote for Platner,” said Bromley, a former state legislator who was featured in Mills’ ad spotlighting Platner’s offensive past comments about women and rape.

“My objection, initially, was sort of ‘Who do you think you are? You have no electoral experience,” Bromley said of Platner. She saw his bid as nothing new — “the younger, inexperienced man getting the job over the experienced woman.”

Then, when reporting unearthed Platner’s controversial online history and now-covered Nazi-linked tattoo, Bromley said, “What happened on top of that was this man has no integrity… and, if we want to wonder about how important that is, just look at who we’ve got for president.”

When asked whether not voting for Platner would give Collins a leg up, Bromley said she’s not worried about that because “I don’t think Platner has a chance in hell of winning.”

Neither does Maine Rep. Holly Eaton (D-Deer Isle). Eaton also plans to vote for Mills in the primary but hasn’t yet decided what she’ll do for the general. “I don’t feel like there’s enough of a shelf life on those comments to forgive them,” said Eaton of Platner’s past, “and I’m a pretty forgiving person, but unless you lead with those, with that history, then I think that there’s a real problem there.”

Eaton is going to instead put all of her effort into getting a Democrat elected in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, an open seat since U.S. Rep. Jarden Golden, a moderate Democrat, isn’t seeking reelection. “We have a real opportunity for someone to work closely with whomever the rest of the congressional delegation is,” she said.

Dresden resident Alfred Beattie still has hope for the Democrats in the Senate race.

When he spoke with Maine Morning Star in November, he’d been undecided in the race but leaning toward Mills. With Mills, he knew what he was going to get, he’d said, whereas he’d thought Platner “was just gonna fall to the tabloids.” But since then, he found Mills’ campaign to be lackluster and called her suspending her campaign “probably a wise idea.”

He’s still not convinced Platner is the right person to be the Democratic nominee, but if Platner is, Beattie will be fully behind him.

“Getting Susan Collins out of office is a higher priority,” Beattie said.

The type of campaign Mainers find convincing

Collins traveled around Maine this month making stops at the Harrison Food Bank, Bridgton Hospital and other places she helped secure outsized earmarks for as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“There’s always going to be ‘she did this’ or ‘didn’t do that,’” Hill said of Collins, “but I think her strength is her experience.”

Sophie Creamer, a 25-year-old who has organized for LGBTQ+ issues in the state, said she thinks there’s validity to the argument that Collins’ holds substantial power, “but I think it’s important to recognize that she’s also done so much ill will.”

Platner’s campaign manager Ben Chin was asked how they plan to appeal to voters who’ve previously been convinced to back Collins because of an ability to bring money to Maine during a press call the day Mills dropped out.

“Every time Senator Collins leverages a little bit of earmark to build a bridge or a road that just does not make up for the fact that Mainers right now are losing money, are hemorrhaging money left and right, because she has backed the Trump administration’s agenda to bleed people dry,” Chin said.

While Tipton, the South Portland mayor, agrees with Chin’s view on Collins, she also wants to see Platner articulate how he would bring federal funding to Maine if elected.

“I think the Platner campaign is doing a lot of things right,” Tipton said, noting his vows to combat Trump. “At the same time, since he will be Maine’s senator and Senator Collins is known for constituent services and for bringing federal resources to projects in Maine, it would be good to hear more from him about how he sees himself continuing that role.”

Eaton also questions Platner’s ability on that front as someone without a record in government.. For example, fishing industry regulations are a key issue in her district, which is entirely working waterfront, and Eaton said on that, “We do have a champion in Susan Collins.”

“That is something that is at the crux of what’s important for some of the voters in my district,” she said.

Republicans, Democrats and independents alike said they don’t like attack ads. Mills’ negative ads on Platner didn’t turn around her campaign. But, that doesn’t mean voters don’t want to hear more from Platner about how he’s reconciling with his past.

“He doesn’t need to be perfect, and I think it’s good that he’s not perfect,” Creamer said. “And also I do think that he could do more self reflection on his tattoo and question further how this shifts into his more anti-racist policies.”

The small town nature of national politics in Maine

Hill’s allegiance to Collins also has a lot to do with personal ties.

He lives in the same neighborhood as her family, and Collins has personally taken time to congratulate him on his work on the Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery.

“To me,” Hills said, “that spoke volumes.”

Since launching his campaign in August, Platner has also had that impact on voters.

Creamer initially had reservations about the political newcomer, worrying he could be another John Fetterman, the plainspoken former Pennsylvania steel town mayor who has walked back his progressive stances since Trump was reelected. Those worries were heightened when Platner’s controversial online comments and tattoo came to light.

But then Creamer met him personally. At a bar where many local organizers had gathered, Platner showed up to meet people away from the cameras. He spoke with Creamer for an hour and a half, even as his staffers tried to get him to make the rounds.

“I don’t think that he’s a ‘John Fetterman,’” Creamer said. “The impression that left on me was that he was very genuine.”

Platner told Creamer what he’s repeated often on the campaign trail — that he views his Senate bid as a means to building a broader organizing campaign.

The team Platner has built so far, with tens of thousands of volunteers, plans to also support Democrats and allied causes up and down the ballot, Chin said. For example, the campaign leveraged its resources to back now state Rep. Scott Harriman, a Democrat representing Lewiston, in a special election in the fall.

“We’re going into this having already figured out some ways to do that,” Chin said during the press call, “and we’re a creative campaign, so I’d expect that there are going to be lots more efforts like that.”

Tipton also thinks Democrats ought to lean into these overlaps.

“Democrats in Maine are very interconnected — should be — and need to work well with one another and listen to one another,” Tipton said.