Graham Platner prevailed in the Maine Democratic Senate primary, breaking 50% of the vote and clinching the nomination to face Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whom national Democrats hope to topple on their way to recapturing control of the Senate in November.
Platner had 75 percent of the votes with only 8 percent of the ballots counted when the Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening, suggesting a dominant performance. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, had just 19 percent. Mills’ name remained on the ballot despite the fact she dropped out of the contest in April.
The oysterman and political newcomer triumphed at the ballot box despite allegations that roiled his campaign before Election Day: that he sexted women outside of his marriage and that he behaved in a demeaning way to some former girlfriends, including two incidents in which he was allegedly physically menacing to one of them.Platner denied those incidents.
“This is the state that raised me. This is the state that saved me,” Platner said at his victory party. “Maine, I love you. I love this state.”
Platner chastised national Democrats, who said he said kept seeking a headline that would tarnish him and were missing the point. “In trying so hard to understand me, they failed to understand this is not about me at all. This is a movement about us.”
“This is the state that raised me. This is the state that saved me,” Graham Platner said at his victory party. “Maine, I love you. I love this state.”
The Democrat will now face Collins, a five-term incumbent who ran unopposed in the GOP Senate primary.
Platner also took harsh aim at Collins, calling her “spineless” and claimed she “lied to us” about protecting abortion rights codified under Roe v. Wade after supporting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“Susan Collins doesn’t serve us. She serves Donald Trump,” Platner argued. “We will take back the Senate seat. We will take back our power…I want you to imagine what you will feel like when we hold Trump and his criminal enterprise to account.”
In coming in first — and avoiding further rounds of counting as part of Maine’s ranked choice voting system — Platner technically defeated Mills in the Democratic primary. Mills was recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., but her campaign never took off and she suspended it in April.
But her name remained on the ballot, and voters could have to chosen to side with their former governor as something of a protest vote against Platner.
Despite early strength, Platner’s road to nomination was paved with controversy.