Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the Maine Senate, is facing allegations regarding sexually explicit messages sent to multiple women during his marriage. His wife, Amy Gertner, informed his campaign about these messages after discovering them in the spring of 2025, shortly after Platner announced his candidacy. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gertner disclosed the existence of the texts to a campaign aide in August as part of opposition research ahead of a planned Labor Day rally featuring Senator Bernie Sanders.
The New York Times reported that Gertner indicated her husband had sent explicit texts to up to a dozen women, while an official stated the number was up to six. Additionally, a Kik profile belonging to Platner was confirmed, which was created in 2016 under the username Phustle0331. The profile reportedly features a shirtless image of Platner.
Kik has been criticized by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation for its anonymous messaging capabilities, which have been linked to numerous child sex abuse cases. Platner's campaign has also faced scrutiny due to a tattoo resembling a symbol used by Nazi SS soldiers during World War II, which he denied knowing the meaning of at the time of getting it. His ex-campaign manager claimed he was aware of the tattoo's significance.
Furthermore, resurfaced posts from a Reddit account attributed to Platner include racially insensitive comments and endorsements of political violence. In one post, he stated, "There are times in this world when, for the good of tolerance and humanity, you need to kill a motherf*cker." Platner is set to challenge incumbent Senator Susan Collins for the Maine Senate seat in November.
