Republicans have opened the general election fight against Graham Platner with a dose of trolling, snatching up GrahamPlatner.org and using it to blast the 41‑year‑old former Marine as “untrustworthy, unhinged & unfit for Maine.”
Mr. Platner cruised to victory in the Maine Democratic Senate primary this week after weathering questions about his past behavior.
He’s now on a collision course with five‑term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race Democrats likely need to win in November to have any chance of flipping the Senate.
In its race to define Mr. Platner, the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate GOP leadership, has turned GrahamPlatner.org into an attack vehicle. The site warns visitors that he’s “lying to Mainers, trying to fool us into believing the fake persona, the working‑class outsider and oyster farmer fighting the establishment.”
Mr. Platner has been one of the surprises of the 2026 midterm election cycle. He blasted onto the political scene from relative obscurity and drew support from Sens. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
He has also faced blowback from a series of revelations about a tattoo widely recognized as a Nazi symbol that he has since covered up, as well as old internet posts about women drinking too much, reports of “unsettling” behavior in past relationships with women, and a more recent sexting scandal.
Republicans also have said his working-class image is bogus.
Even so, he dominated Tuesday’s primary, winning 72% of the vote. Gov. Janet Mills placed second with 19%, a month after she suspended her campaign.
“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” Mr. Platner said. “The reason I believe that is I have lived it.”
The Senate Leadership Fund challenges that redemption message on its website, which features an AI‑generated picture of the Democrat with an oversized head while holding a stack of $100 bills in a mahogany‑lined library.
“The truth is, Graham Platner’s persona is a fraud: he’s a really privileged elitist from a wealthy upbringing who’s gotten away his entire life with lying, racism, sexism and violence,” the website says.
It paints a far different picture from the official GrahamForSenate.com site, which welcomes visitors with a photo of Mr. Platner smiling with the Atlantic Ocean behind him and the message: “Graham Platner: Mainers First. Maine Always.”
Meanwhile, President Trump weighed in Wednesday, calling Mr. Platner a “thug” and a “pig.”
“He’s worse than any human being that’s ever run for office, probably,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office.
The president said Republicans would never allow a comparable person to run on their side, even if it meant losing the Senate.
“He’s a thug,” Mr. Trump said. “And he’s running to be a senator.”
He said Ms. Collins might not be his “best friend,” but characterized her as a “sane woman” with an impressive track record of never missing a Senate vote.
“She’s a respected person. Maybe a little different ideology than me, but this guy is a thug,” he said, pivoting back to Mr. Platner.
