Graham Platner, a military veteran and oysterman from Sullivan, Maine, announced Tuesday that he will run for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in a bid to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is expected to seek reelection next year. In his launch video, Platner—bearded, broad-shouldered, and speaking in a gravelly tone—is shown harvesting oysters and chopping wood while warning that Maine has become “essentially unlivable for working-class people.”
Platner, a veteran of four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army and Marine Corps, said his decision to run is fueled … by frustration over the widening wealth gap in the U.S.We are moving into a position where regular, working-class people can’t even afford to live in the towns that they were …born in,” he said in a Monday interview with ABC News.
Platner’s candidacy invites comparisons to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nebraska independent candidate Dan Osborn, both of whom presented themselves as working-class champions in recent Senate campaigns. Platner has enlisted Fight Agency, a progressive consulting firm whose team has previously worked on campaigns for Fetterman, Osborn, and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
The first-time candidate believes his roots give him a unique ability to connect with voters who have drifted away from Democrats. “I drink coffee every morning with the guys that I work next to, who are friends of mine, who all voted for Donald Trump,” he said. “They wanted something new, they wanted change. I think I can help steer the Democratic Party—quite confused right now—back to being the party of labor unions, community organizers, and structural change for working-class people.”
Platner has aligned himself with the progressive wing of the party, naming Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and former Sen. Sherrod Brown among those he admires. He described “Medicare for All” as an urgent national priority and labeled the war in Gaza a “genocide,” citing the work of Israeli scholars. On divisive cultural debates, such as transgender women competing in women’s sports, Platner called the issue a “distraction from the things that impact Americans materially every single day.”
He has previously clashed with the Trump administration, notably in 2020 when he praised Gov. Janet Mills for standing up to President Trump during a dispute over Maine’s anti-discrimination law allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports. Mills, a Democrat who has been urged by national party leaders to enter the Senate race, has not ruled out running. Asked about a potential primary challenge from Mills, Platner said Democrats need to “stop running the same kind of playbook over and over again” and start putting forward “outside-the-box” candidates.
Despite his bold positions, Platner admitted he has had no conversations with national Democrats about support for his campaign. “Nobody has called me, and I’m not really in a position to call anybody because I’m the harbormaster of Sullivan, Maine,” he said.
