PORTLAND, Maine ― Graham Platner is still trying to process this moment.
A month ago, the scruffy U.S. Marine veteran was tending to his oyster farm on the coast of Maine in relative obscurity. Since announcing his bid against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) two weeks ago, however, the 40-year-old political newcomer has drawn national headlines, hauled in over a million dollars for his campaign, and raised hopes among Democrats across the country that perhaps, this time, they have a shot at ousting the longtime GOP incumbent and taking back control of the U.S. Senate next year.
On Monday, Platner addressed the biggest crowd of his life in downtown Portland, bringing over 6,500 screaming people to their feet at a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with his call to fight corporate interests and the influence of billionaires ― in both political parties. The populist message has resonated amid broad dissatisfaction within the Democratic Party with its leadership and their handling of President Donald Trump.
“I have not yet begun to emotionally connect with what’s going on, because I don’t even know how to, the scale of it is so ridiculous. It’s essentially incomprehensible,” the Democratic candidate reflected after the event in an interview with HuffPost. “It’s weird because, like, I don’t get nervous because it feels so ridiculous. I don’t even know how to begin to handle it.”
Platner’s rapid rise to become a leading candidate to challenge Collins is a direct challenge not only to her but to Democrats in Washington, who are almost entirely focused on convincing Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) to run for Senate and can be slow to embrace candidates with anti-establishment personas. The possibility of a contested primary between Mills, Platner and Jordan Wood ― a former congressional aide who announced a run earlier this year ― is exciting for Republicans eager to exploit Democratic divides.
Dressed in a red work shirt, boots, and blue jeans, Plattner said Maine deserved a senator in Washington who understood and fought for the working class. He accused Collins, a veteran lawmaker eyeing her sixth term in Washington and one of the last remaining blue state Republicans, of being disingenuous in voicing concerns with Trump’s policies.
“Symbolic opposition does not open hospitals. Weak condemnations do not bring back Roe v. Wade,” he said, referring to Collins’ votes clearing the way for Trump’s Medicaid cuts and a Supreme Court justice who overturned federal reproductive rights. “Performative politics that enables the destruction of our way of life is disqualifying for the role of U.S. senator.”
He also urged Senate Democrats to play hardball and refuse to provide the votes necessary to fund the government ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. Democratic leaders are still smarting over their decision to allow Republicans to fund the government in March, resulting in widespread political blowback for Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat in the Senate.
But shutting down the government wouldn’t come without risks for Democrats. In addition to keeping many federal workers off the job, it would allow Republicans to wallop vulnerable Democrats ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“We’re at a point where I honestly do not care about what some pundit’s opinion on what a government shutdown may or may not look like in an election a year from now. I’m sorry, we are beyond that,” Platner said Monday. “Whatever can be done to slow down this speed run towards authoritarianism that we are currently undertaking ― anything that we can do to slow that down is necessary and should be done.”
He added, “We’ve created this kind of absurdity for ourselves, so we may as well at least use this absurd system we built to do something good and maybe slow down what is currently happening.”
Republicans and GOP-friendly news outlets have dubbed Platner “Maine’s Mamdani,” a reference to Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic socialist candidate running for mayor of New York City. They also slammed the Maine Senate candidate for criticizing Israel and its war in Gaza, a position he hasn’t shied away from on the campaign trail.
“No matter which party is in power, Susan Collins has a proven record of putting Mainers first, by crafting legislation to protect their Social Security and support small businesses,” National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Samantha Cantrell said in a statement. “Graham Platner, on the other hand, is spending his time cozying up to Bernie Sanders and championing his radical, anti-Israel agenda.”
It’s an accusation that Platner, a competitive pistol shooter and firearms instructor, called “absurd.”
“I’m fairly sure that Zohran does not spend his weekends at the gun range,” he said. “I’m fairly sure that Mr. Mamdani does not spend an immense amount of time hanging out with his friends, who are all Trump voters. It also just goes to show, though, that if you try to do a single thing for working people in this country, Republicans are going to call you the most lefty nut job that could ― you could possibly think of. A lot of working-class Americans are realizing that that is absolute nonsense.”
The socialist label may not be as much of a dirty word in the age of Trump. His administration recently took a 10% equity stake in chip-making company Intel over the objections of very few Republicans who ordinarily would have been screaming from the rooftops about socialism had a Democratic president done so. Moreover, the move was cheered by populists like Sanders and Platner.
“The fact that if private companies get to invest in things, they get to own it, but when the American people invest in things, somehow they’re not allowed to have an ownership ― I find that to be truly ridiculous,” Platner told HuffPost.
Unlike most Democrats, Platner also took a more toned-down approach to regulating guns, which are popular in Maine’s hunting and rural communities. Asked what forms of gun control he supported in the wake of a horrific mass shooting in Minnesota, he said he supported red flag laws “that are written in such a way that they don’t impede the ability of legal gun owners to have access to their firearms.”
Still, Platner’s progressive views on economics ― and the simple fact that he was wholly unknown a month ago ― are why top Democrats are still hoping a more conventional and experienced candidate like Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) jumps in the Senate race. Mills said last week she is “seriously considering” doing so, but is not in any rush to announce her plans.
At 77 years old, however, Mills’ age could be an issue if she decides to run in the Democratic primary at a time when former President Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to run for reelection in 2024 has made voters skeptical of older candidates.
“I feel like people like Susan Collins, like Janet Mills, people like [Independent Maine Sen.] Angus King, whom I adore, should just step aside and mentor some of the younger voices coming up and really reenergize the Democratic Party,” said Dot Ollier, 72, a real estate agent from Brunswick. “I feel like the party has become very stale. So I think we need to shake things up.”
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Platner said it’s generally easier to motivate voters and build political support with fresher candidates, though he took exception to 83-year-old Sanders and his appeal to younger Americans. He also criticized Democrats for sticking with Biden despite clear evidence of his aging.
“The American people are sick and tired of being told that the thing that they are seeing with their own eyes is not happening, whether that be an economic system that is clearly not meant to support them, whether that is a genocide in Gaza, and whether that is a clearly aging candidate,” he said.
Sanders also cited Platner’s stance on Gaza as a reason for getting behind his bid against Collins.
“One of the reasons why I want Graham Platner in the Senate is he’s willing to say no more money for the Israeli war machine that’s destroying the people of Gaza,” the senator said on Monday.
Maine is one of the Democrats’ best Senate pickup opportunities, and a state they need to win to have any hope of taking back control of the Senate in 2026. Harris carried the state by seven points in the 2024 presidential election, and Collins has seen her polling plummet during the first six months of Trump’s second term – though polls have missed the state’s preferences before. Democrats will be eager to tie her to Trump’s cuts to rural health care and other popular government programs this time around.
Collins had a relatively quiet August recess. Like other Republicans, she held very few public events. When she did, appearing at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new road in Searsport last week, she was met by jeers and boos from liberal protesters angry with her perceived complicity with Trump. It’s a notable shift for Collins, who held over a dozen public events in August 2019, the summer before her previous reelection campaign.
Mainers who turned out for a raucous Sanders rally in Portland on Monday said Collins’ legislative record under Trump would come back to haunt her.
“Someone needs to blow apart her image of being a moderate, because she’s not,” said Liz Moberg, a retired artist from South Portland. “She only votes undercover when she’ll be the one person who votes against something horrible. But knowing that she’s not making any effort to convince any other members of her party to do anything differently, she has a lot of power, and she’s not using it.”
Mike Turcotte, a retired ethics professor from Bangor, Maine, said Democrats needed a Senate candidate who doesn’t simply echo their famous neighbor from Vermont.
“If he mimics the same thing, I’m out of here,” Turcotte said of Platner before hearing him speak on Monday. “Do we need another Bernie? Sanders has been saying this for 20, 30 years. What are you for? I get that we’re angry. I get that there’s a lot of partisanship. This country can’t survive unless we think ahead beyond this.”
After Platner delivered his remarks, which received multiple standing ovations, Turcotte told HuffPost he liked what he heard, including a poetic stemwinder about rebuilding the American dream.
“When we reform our democracy, let our freedom be a different kind of freedom,” Platner said in his speech, “a freedom to live with the dignity and fulfillment that gives us the society that we deserve, where instead of dreaming of a life where we can get by, we can afford a life that allows us to dream.”