"Very early on, before we launched the campaign, we received very clear warnings that I had no right to do this — that they were the ones who choose," the oyster farmer claimed of Senate Democrats
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NEED TO KNOW
- In a Tuesday interview with Slate, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said his campaign received “clear warnings” from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) that he “had no right” to enter the race
- Platner launched his campaign in August, and has faced several controversies; in October, he received backlash for a tattoo resembling a Nazi skull and crossbones, which he said he plans to remove
- Platner said Tuesday that his campaign has “never spoken to anybody at the DSCC, period”
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he received explicit warnings from national Democrats not to enter the race ahead of his campaign’s launch in August.
In an interview for the Tuesday, March 3, episode of Slate podcast Death, Sex & Money, Platner, a political newcomer, told host Anna Sale that his campaign received “very clear warnings” from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the national organization charged with increasing Democratic representation in the Senate, that he “had no right” to enter the race.
“They had a candidate they had chosen,” Platner said Tuesday, referring to Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who launched her Senate bid in October. “She had not announced yet, but was going to be the candidate, and I had essentially not done my time — I was skipping the line.”
“They essentially said, if we do this, they're going to come after me,” Platner said of the DSCC’s messages to his campaign. “They're going to rip my life apart.”
Platner’s campaign has seen its share of controversy since Mills entered the race. In October, CNN reported that Platner once promoted violent political action in a number of since-deleted social media posts, and the candidate received swift backlash after revealing a tattoo resembling a Nazi skull and crossbones.
The DSCC did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment, and declined to respond to Platner’s remarks ahead of the episode’s air date, a Slate representative said in an email.
“I also reached out,” Platner said on Tuesday. “I made it clear that I was very willing to talk to anyone in Washington, to have a conversation, just so they could hear me out. To this day, by the way, all these months later, no one has ever taken me up on that.”
“We've never spoken to anybody at the DSCC, period,” Platner said. “The only folks I've spoken to in Washington are other senators who have been very supportive of what I’ve done, both publicly and behind the scenes.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, endorsed Platner at a rally in April, and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona announced this week that he would back the first-time candidate, saying he reflects the “grit and independence that defines Maine.”
For her part, Mills has secured high-profile endorsements from the likes of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.
An oyster farmer and military veteran from Sullivan, Maine, a coastal town of about 1,200 people, Platner’s rise from long-shot candidate to serious contender in a race that could help determine the balance of power in Congress is something of a surprise. Mills, a two-term governor, has a proven track record and broad approval among Democrats in the state.
Platner has said he plans to get his controversial tattoo, located on the right side of his chest, removed. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” he said in a statement in October. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting.”
Planter is leading Mills in recent polls of Maine voters. Pan Atlantic Research's 68th Omnibus Poll, released on March 4, shows Planter leading Mills 46% to 39%, reports WMTV.
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In Tuesday’s interview, Platner appeared to suggest that Mills was behind the negative attention brought to his past.
The governor “announced the campaign on a Tuesday and all of the negative stories began to drop Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of that week,” he said. “You don't have to do a lot of deep thinking to find connections there."
A spokesperson for Mills’ campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
The two Maine Democrats will square off in the state’s Democratic primary on June 9, with the winner of that race set to face incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, in November.
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