Democrats stand by Platner amid new texting controversy

Graham Platner arrived on Capitol Hill on Tuesday facing a new round of scrutiny over sexually explicit text messages, but key Democratic senators showed no public sign of withdrawing support from the Maine Senate candidate as the party looks to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in 2026.

Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee, met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and later with several senators at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. A source with knowledge of the meetings told NBC News they had been “on the books for a while” and were unrelated to the latest reports.

“I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” Schumer said Tuesday. He reiterated his endorsement but did not directly answer questions about whether the revelations concerned him or whether he was satisfied with Platner’s explanations.

The latest controversy centers on reports that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, privately told a campaign official that he had sent sexually explicit messages to other women early in their marriage. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported the information, and The Guardian said it confirmed it. Journalists learned of the texts from Genevieve McDonald, the campaign’s former political director, who obtained them from Gertner as part of proactive opposition research.

Platner’s campaign released a statement from Gertner saying she had been “deeply hurt” by McDonald’s action. “I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said. “I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives – the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind.”

Platner did not answer reporters’ questions after leaving the DSCC meeting, which lasted more than 90 minutes. He quickly got into a waiting car as Republican staffers stood outside protesting him.

Several Democrats continued to defend him. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said the texts would not decide the race. “The drip, drip that’s actually happening is Americans are really, really hurt by the fact that gas is still high. Food is still high. They can’t buy a home. You can’t afford rent,” Gallego told reporters. “They’re not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an early Platner endorser, also stood by him. Asked by The Associated Press whether he still backed Platner, Sanders said, “Of course. Why would I not?” He added that voters should focus on health care, groceries and gas prices. Outside the DSCC meeting, Sanders addressed anti-Platner protesters and asked, “Are you with the Republican party? Are you talking about morality and corruption with president Trump?”

Platner, a Maine oyster fisher, Marine combat veteran and political newcomer, has run as a populist outsider. His campaign has drawn national progressive support from Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Gallego and others. Gov. Janet Mills, who had been Schumer’s initial choice in the Democratic primary, suspended her campaign after failing to gain traction, though The Guardian reported she told reporters Monday that her name remains on the ballot.

The campaign has also been marked by earlier controversies. Reddit posts from 2013 to 2021 resurfaced in October in which Platner called himself a “communist,” described white rural Americans as “stupid” and “racist,” criticized police officers, used anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, questioned why “Black people didn’t tip” and made comments about survivors and victims of sexual assault. Platner also said on Pod Save America that, while stationed as a Marine in Croatia, he got a skull-and-crossbones tattoo resembling the Totenkopf, an emblem used by the Nazi Schutzstaffel. He has since covered it up and said he only recently understood its meaning.

Platner has apologized publicly and described the conduct as tied to post-traumatic stress disorder after military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I witnessed violence and horror at a scale that I was not quite prepared for, all in the service of something that I now believe was pointless,” he said.

Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said Platner has “got questions he’s got to answer, and he’s going to do that.” Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania remained openly critical, citing the tattoo and texting reports and saying, “I’d love to meet Phustle,” a reference to a username associated with Platner on Kik.

Platner has led Collins by 9 points in a University of New Hampshire poll and by 7 points in a Pan Atlantic Research poll, according to NBC News. Republicans say Collins has repeatedly outperformed polling. “Every race for Susan Collins has been a tough race in Maine,” said Sen. Steve Daines of Montana. “And she always is a tough race, and she’s the toughest candidate to beat, too.”