Sexting scandal is latest Graham Platner controversy to threaten his chances in Maine

A sexting scandal is threatening to torpedo the insurgent Senate campaign of Democrat Graham Platner, who may represent the party’s best chance of ousting longtime GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (Maine).

Planter reportedly sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women, something his wife, Amy Gertner, discovered in spring 2025.

Gertner notified Platner’s campaign last year, and the campaign decided to deem it a private matter, a campaign official told The Wall Street Journal.

Now the issue is public, and it’s become the latest threat to a campaign critical for Democratic chances of winning back the Senate. The party needs to gain four seats to win back the majority, and doing so without winning back Maine is an exceptionally high hurdle.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) suspended her Senate campaign amid polls showing Platner with a wide lead, though she reminded voters over the weekend that her name remains on the ballot for next week’s primary.

“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’” the Maine governor told the Portland Press Herald on Sunday, “but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.”

Some Democrats said the latest controversy was unlikely to affect the primary, but it could be an issue in the general election.

“Being so close to the June 9 primary, I’m not sure that it is going to make a big difference among those Democratic primary voters,” said David Farmer, who served as a top aide to former Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D).

“I think that it is another potential problem for the campaign in the general election against a very tough incumbent in Sen. Susan Collins,” he added.

A campaign official told The New York Times that Platner had stopped engaging in sexually explicit messages with other women........

© The Hill