Der Demokrat Graham Platner aus Maine gewinnt Wähler, die alle „sauer auf das Gleiche“ sind

*More From Bloomberg News Reporter Greg Ryan*

Graham Platner, the oyster farmer seeking to become Maine’s next Senator, has seized frontrunner status in the Democratic primary with a progressive vision that’s finally finding an audience in the historically moderate state.

The Maine race is a must-win for Democrats, who need a net gain of four seats in November’s midterm elections to claim a Senate majority and see an opportunity to oust Republican Susan Collins from a seat she’s held for nearly 30 years. A series of recent polls have put Platner ahead of his main challenger in the June 9 Democratic primary, two-term Maine Governor Janet Mills, even as he faces backlash for misogynistic and offensive social media posts he made years ago. Platner earned 55% support among likely primary voters to Mills’ 28% in an Emerson College poll released Thursday.

Platner’s campaign is centered on an ire for billionaires, big corporations and the Washington establishment on both sides of the aisle. He’s called for universal healthcare and higher taxes on the rich, denouncing elements of the national Democratic party as too beholden to corporate power.

It’s a radical message for Maine, a state with the country’s oldest population and a long history of favoring centrists. It’s also far from the norm for the Democratic party writ large, which in recent years has focused more on criticizing President Donald Trump than big new ideas.

[Read the full story here](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-03-27/graham-platner-s-tattoo-controversy-isn-t-holding-him-back-in-senate-race)

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wake up democratic establishment. you have no credibility with your own voters to the point they will pick almost anyone vs your preferred candidate.

I can’t believe so many people in threads about this dude truly think this dude is Fetterman 2.0. If I’m wrong, so be it, but is taking a chance on someone flawed who at the very least has been talking the talk when there isn’t a better candidate *that* big of a risk? You guys really want more Collins?

Yeah, he was a solider, worked his way up in his career to black rock mercenary, and had a Nazi-esque tattoo. People *can* change and if we judge everyone by the worst parts of their past, we are doomed.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

What’s comical is how people don’t see the same parallels that got Trump elected helping this guy. No I am not saying he is like trump, for clarification. The voters are angry as hell and will rally around anyone that speaks to that rage. You either tap into that rage or someone else will. Not addressing real issues will create opportunities for people to use or exploit that rage. Its a dangerous time.

Whoever wins Democratic primary is the person we should support.

I’m glad to see we reached the point where old Reddit dumbass comments and questionable teenage edge lord tats are less of a liability than being a corpo dem.

The most braindead take is that he is another Fetterman. Fetterman was always a Liberal Zionist, it just didn’t matter to people until post Oct 7th, and there was no salvaging his left wing supporters if he planned to stick with Israel, which he did. Graham is nothing like that. He’s had a consistent and strong platform since he started campaigning. The dumb Nazi tattoo only makes him more appealing to the type of „dumb guy“ voters that usually vote Republican (that Democrats have been dying to appeal to). If he does get hit with the stroke gun and become a fetterman, that just means he’s another asshole politician in a sea of assholes. Not that much lost. We should be supporting Platner until proven otherwise.

Watching the Mills town hall was absolutely brutal. No idea how anyone could vote for her, even if you are fully enveloped in anti-Platner propaganda there is still no argument to vote for Mills.

I saw the zoom town hall she did… Holy crap was she out of touch.

Her only standing point against him are his old tattoos and comments he made on Reddit. Really sad.

Here is an in-depth, recent interview with Platner. I still have questions about the tattoo, but he seems to have a solidly progressive/anti-facist history going back decades and liberal platform. Does not seem at all like a Nazi.

I personally don’t think he’s a Fetterman after this. I hope if he wins he puts those concerns to bed.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/death-sex-money-after-two-wars-and-ptsd-he-became/id279188498?i=1000752843059