Warren endorses Platner in Maine Senate race 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday endorsed oyster farmer Graham Platner over Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) in the Democratic primary to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) this fall — the fourth senator to back the populist candidate. 

“He’s a combat veteran, an oyster farmer, and has inspired people with his populist agenda for a government on the side of working families––not the billionaires and giant corporations,” Warren said in a statement shared by Platner’s campaign.  

“Graham will fight every single day to make life better for the people of Maine in the United States Senate,” she added. “I’m proud to endorse him.” 

Platner in his own statement called it “an honor” to have the progressive senator’s support and described her as “an inspiration.” 

“Senator Warren has spent her career fighting those who use power and wealth to take advantage of working families,” Platner said, adding that he looked “forward to working by her side in the Senate to take on Wall Street, monopolies, and the corruption in Washington.” 

Three other Senate Democrats have backed Platner in the race, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). Sanders caucuses with the party.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) have both backed the Maine governor. 

Platner and Mills are vying for the Democratic nod to face off with Collins in November. The primary took an ugly turn this week after Mills’s campaign released an ad hitting the oyster farmer over 2013 Reddit comments in which he downplayed sexual assault.

Platner has distanced himself from those comments, saying he made them at a difficult time in his life after returning from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has asked voters not judge his candidacy on comments he made over a decade ago. He released his own ad this week responding to Mills’s ad, making similar points.  

Platner has come under scrutiny for a number of controversial posts he made on Reddit about law enforcement and Black people and tipping – remarks he has also since distanced himself from when they resurfaced on the campaign trail.

Despite the controversy, polls largely show Platner leading Mills in the primary. A polling average of Maine Democratic Senate surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ show Platner at 48 percent and Mills at 36 percent.  

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