Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing fresh scrutiny after reporting said his wife, Amy Gertner, warned his campaign last year that he had sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women shortly after their November 2023 marriage. The disclosure
When Amy Gertner says she was “deeply hurt” and felt an “invasion of our privacy. ” she isn’t talking about something that happened years ago in the background of a campaign. She’s describing a betrayal tied to a detail she says she tried to handle privately—only to have it become public at the edge of a high-stakes primary.
Just over a week before Maine’s June 9 primary. the Wall Street Journal reported that Gertner told Platner campaign officials early last year. during an internal vetting exercise. that her husband. Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. had sent sexually explicit text messages to multiple women. The report says the messages occurred just months after their November 2023 marriage.
Gertner. a Marine Corps veteran’s wife and an outspoken participant in their shared public journey through fertility treatment. told the Journal. “I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed. and it won’t.” She added that she was “deeply hurt” by the betrayal and the “invasion of our privacy” by a former staff member she had trusted with the information.
A key part of the controversy is the timing. The Journal reported that Gertner informed campaign aides during internal vetting last August that Platner had sent sexually explicit messages to several women. The disclosure was meant to prevent the information from catching the campaign off guard.
A campaign official told the Journal that aides believed the matter should be handled between Gertner and Platner, who were in marriage counseling at the time.
Platner’s campaign has also been dealing with a separate stream of accusations and scrutiny from the campaign trail. Prior uncovered Reddit posts included offensive language, racial remarks, and comments about sexual assault. He has also faced backlash over a tattoo resembling the Totenkopf—“death’s head”—a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS. Platner has apologized for both the online remarks and the tattoo. saying he was unaware of the tattoo’s meaning when he got it while serving as a Marine in Croatia. He attributed his past internet rants to struggles with PTSD after his military discharge.
In her statement provided to the Journal through Platner’s campaign. Gertner framed the warning as something she disclosed while trusting people close to her. She said she and Platner “confided deeply personal details” about her marriage “to someone I considered a friend.” She also said the couple had struggled on a fertility journey. went through marriage counseling. and that they “were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy.” The couple previously shared publicly that they sought IVF treatment in Norway and suffered a miscarriage earlier this year. Gertner said their “marriage today is stronger than ever before.”.
The New York Times reported additional specifics about the disclosure. Genevieve McDonald—described as a former state legislator and Platner’s campaign political director until October—told the Times that Gertner alerted campaign officials that Platner had sent sexually explicit messages to as many as a dozen women. A current Platner campaign official told the Times that Platner had been communicating with up to six women and that it stopped before the campaign launched.
McDonald, who resigned from the campaign over revelations about the tattoo and the Reddit posts, told the Times, “The United States Senate is not a training ground for redemption. It is a place for proven leaders with moral clarity and integrity.”
Newsweek reported that it had reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment via email on Saturday evening.
The latest controversy is landing in a race that Democrats view as one of their clearest paths to reshaping the Senate. Maine has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections. with former Vice President Kamala Harris carrying the state by about 7 points in November 2024 against President Donald Trump. But Maine has also backed moderate Republicans—most notably Senator Susan Collins. who has repeatedly won reelection since 1997—along with independents like Senator Angus King.
Cook Political Report has labeled Collins’s seat a “toss-up.” National Democrats see flipping it as a top pickup opportunity, and a crucial part of their effort to win back Senate majority control in this year’s midterm elections.
After Governor Janet Mills. a Democrat. dropped out of the race. Platner was widely viewed as the frontrunner for the party’s nomination to face Collins. though David Costello remains on the Democratic primary ballot. Because Mills withdrew late in the cycle, her name still appears on the June 9 primary ballot. Platner is also backed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Polls released in recent weeks suggest the race remains competitive. A Pine Tree State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center from May 21 to May 25 found Platner leading with 51 percent of the vote to Collins’s 42 percent. The poll reported 6 percent undecided and 2 percent backing another candidate. It found independents split, with 47 percent backing Collins and 44 percent supporting Platner. The poll surveyed 1,397 Maine residents with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
That poll mirrors a February landscape in which Platner led Collins 49 percent to 38 percent. with 9 percent undecided and 4 percent supporting another candidate—though the share of undecided voters was smaller in the newer survey. It is also one of the few polls conducted since Mills dropped out, narrowing the Democratic field.
Other polling since Mills ended her campaign has shown similar momentum. A Pan Atlantic Research poll—the first since Mills ended her campaign—showed Platner leading Collins by 7 points. 48 percent to 41 percent. with 11 percent undecided. That survey of 827 likely voters ran from May 8 to May 18 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
A Maine People’s Resource Center poll. surveying 1. 167 likely voters from March 20 to March 31. showed Platner leading Collins by 9 points. 48 percent to 39 percent. A March Emerson College poll showed Platner up 7 points in a general election. 48 percent to 41 percent. based on 1. 075 likely voters surveyed March 21 to March 23. with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
For voters watching the Democratic field tighten just before June 9. the questions now are immediate and personal: how much was known by campaign aides. when they knew it. and whether private disclosures made during internal vetting can stay private in a race where every detail is suddenly part of the public contest. And with the primary approaching, Gertner’s language—betrayal, privacy, hurt—has taken on a new political gravity.
Graham Platner Amy Gertner Susan Collins Maine Senate race June 9 primary sexually explicit texts IVF Norway PTSD
Wait, this is about texts like right before the election? wild.
Deeply hurt and invasion of privacy… yeah I mean if he was sending that stuff, that’s not “private” anymore. But I’m also confused why they’re acting like this just came out now.
So she warned the campaign officials “early last year” and they still let him run? That seems like the campaign wanted it buried. Or maybe they didn’t know the details, idk.
Men sending explicit texts then getting married like normal is crazy to me. Also the article says something about fertility treatment which like… why is that even in the same story? Maybe this is just political hit stuff because it’s Maine and everyone’s cousins or whatever.