--- title: Graham Platner Wins Maine Primary Despite Multiple Scandals description: Graham Platner’s fiery candidacy may fit the moment, but his baggage could sink Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/maine-democratic-senate-primary-graham-platner-scandals-susan-collins/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-06-10T01:38:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-10T02:03:12.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner, Scandals and All, to Take On Susan Collins og:description: Graham Platner’s fiery candidacy may fit the moment, but his baggage could sink Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/maine-democratic-senate-primary-graham-platner-scandals-susan-collins/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21771c25a58c7f93/6a287755b5a2c7616e0f61eb/GettyImages-2279841452.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2279841452.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner, Scandals and All, to Take On Susan Collins twitter:description: Graham Platner’s fiery candidacy may fit the moment, but his baggage could sink Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21771c25a58c7f93/6a287755b5a2c7616e0f61eb/GettyImages-2279841452.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner, Scandals and All, to Take On Susan Collins > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner to Take on Susan Collins for U.S. Senate Seat [Watch (HLS stream): Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner to Take on Susan Collins for U.S. Senate Seat](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XSELxrjU.m3u8) (1:25)  _Published 2026-06-10. Graham Platner’s fiery candidacy may fit the moment, but his baggage could sink Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Updated: Jun 10, 2026 2:03 AM UTCPublished: Jun 10, 2026 1:38 AM UTC  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Updated: Jun 10, 2026 2:03 AM UTCPublished: Jun 10, 2026 1:38 AM UTC Four years ago, Democrats were falling over themselves in delight. Republicans in Georgia knowingly [nominated](https://time.com/6181171/herschel-walker-georgia-republican-senate/) Herschel Walker, a political newcomer with mental health issues, accusations of domestic violence and stalking, and a no-exceptions opposition to abortion rights despite his alleged history of partners availing themselves of them. Well, karma shows no grace. Maine Democrats on Tuesday nominated their own version of Walker in Graham Platner, an oyster farmer with a thick and messy oppo file that includes Nazi imagery, sexting with women other than his wife, and allegations of domestic abuse. The 41-year-old harbormaster and combat veteran coasted to the nomination against five-term Sen. Susan Collins, age 73, in an election cycle in which Platner’s fiery spirit matches the mood and Collins’ cautious brand very much doesn’t. But, boy, if this isn’t a potential self-own, I don’t know what is. In my conversations around Washington, the mood among Democrats is something close to a hostage situation. In a crucial race, they feel handcuffed to an untested candidate, one who they wish would step aside for the good of the party. The mood is different in Maine, where my colleague Julia Terruso found Democrats [far more unfazed](https://time.com/article/2026/06/08/the-democrats-platner-problem/) by the latest Platner revelations, including accusations from an ex-girlfriend that he was physically threatening. In claiming the nomination Tuesday evening, Platner struck a tone of defiance about his skeptics. He said pundits, reporters, and Democrats in the the political establishment “keep looking for that one story, that one headline, that one moment in my life that they can define the campaign by.” Instead, he said they missed the bigger message he brought to the trail, one of second chances. “It is my job to earn your trust, faith, and support,” Platner said. It may prove a heavy lift. Nevertheless, Platner is now the nominee, which means Maine is about to engage in an expensive experiment to answer several thorny questions: What are voters willing to overlook? How much weight does incumbency carry? Will voters fed up with Donald Trump give Susan Collins points for having held him at arms length, or punish her for so often backing his agenda? When I was on the ground in Georgia heading into that early-summer primary in 2022, I spoke to voters all over the state expressing [reservations](https://time.com/6181171/herschel-walker-georgia-republican-senate/) about Walker. So, too, did party bosses, who saw the incumbent, Democrat Raphael Warnock, as beatable. Primary Day brought with it dread for Republicans. And it’s all happening again, neatly flipped Maine Democrats had another option—sort of. Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April as she struggled to match Platner’s shine. Yet the term-limited Governor remained on the ballot. In recent days, she low-key reminded her supporters that she was still eligible to take the nomination if offered, but no one really took her up on that fact—in no small measure because the 78-year-old Mills would have been the oldest first-term Senator in history. Barring Platner bowing out in time—which seems unlikely—Democrats are hunkering down, desperately hoping there aren’t more Platner revelations left to come out before Election Day. Republicans, meanwhile, are whispering that Democrats' fears of unused Platner oppo are well-founded. They’re also hinting that, when it comes to Platner, there's more than one shoe left to drop. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/maine-democratic-senate-primary-graham-platner-scandals-susan-collins/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/maine-democratic-senate-primary-graham-platner-scandals-susan-collins/"},"headline":"Maine Democrats Pick Graham Platner, Scandals and All, to Take On Susan Collins","datePublished":"2026-06-10T01:38:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-10T02:03:12.000Z","description":"Graham Platner’s fiery candidacy may fit the moment, but his baggage could sink Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/maine-democratic-senate-primary-graham-platner-scandals-susan-collins/","keywords":["The D.C. 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