It seems like there’s no end to the embarrassing news about Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine. This week, a former Platner campaign official revealed that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, discovered sexually explicit texts her husband had sent to several women, and reported them to his campaign shortly after he announced his run. Gertner has stood by her man since the news broke, and so have most Democrats. Yet Republicans see the story as yet another issue that could tarnish the troubled candidate in voters’ eyes and help reelect incumbent senator Susan Collins, who trails Platner by about nine points in most polls.
Yet those Republicans might be better served with a different line of attack, because there is little evidence voters care about Platner’s personal life. Story after story about his offensive tattoo, his racially insensitive social-media posts, and his riches-to-rags background have done little to dent his support. That’s likely because Platner’s flaws are familiar and forgivable to many of the middle- and working-class Mainers who make up most of the electorate. And many of the people attacking Platner are the same critics who complain about political correctness when it’s aimed at their own preferred candidates.
The drama over Platner’s background began in October, when a deleted Reddit account belonging to the Maine Senate candidate resurfaced. It revealed that, apart from being a progressive Democrat and a folksy oyster farmer, Platner was also a guy who’d once called himself a communist, used various slurs, complained that black people didn’t tip, and said rape victims should “take some responsibility,” among other things. Later that month, a video began circulating of Platner dancing shirtless and piss-drunk at a wedding, his Nazi totenkopf tattooed on his chest for all to see. Platner’s chief of staff bailed. Nobody wants to be on a sinking ship.
But as it turns out, the ship was fine. Democratic voters in Maine didn’t care about Platner’s Reddit account, the tattoo, or complaints that he was a rich kid LARPing as working class, since he presents himself as a humble veteran and oysterman, yet his parents are prominent professionals and he briefly attended an elite prep school. Platner continued to rise in the polls, so much so that in late April, Governor Janet Mills dropped out of Democratic primary, leaving Planter as the presumptive nominee. Republicans have recycled many of the same attacks Mills used against Platner, to no avail, hence his large lead over Collins. We can now say with certainty that the attacks on Platner’s character are simply not working on the median voter. Why?
