Elizabeth Warren Makes Endorsement In Maine’s Bruising Democratic Senate Primary

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) endorsed populist veteran Graham Platner in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary on Thursday, further intensifying an already contentious race against Gov. Janet Mills.

Platner has also been backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), while Mills is supported by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The winner will face incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the November general election, which is expected to be competitive and costly.

“Graham Platner is the real deal,” Warren said in a video announcement. “He’s a fighter, and he’s ready to take that fight to Washington.”

Warren argued that Platner could help Democrats reclaim the Senate majority, currently held by Republicans, 53-47.

“Graham Platner has the grit to go against the grain and to fight for what is right,” she added, saying Platner exhibits the “fighting spirit that the Democratic Party needs now more than ever.”

Platner’s campaign faced numerous scandals last fall, including old Reddit posts from 2013 in which he described himself as a “communist” and made demeaning comments about women. He has since apologized for the remarks. He also faced scrutiny over a tattoo that critics said resembled a Nazi symbol, which he later covered.

The Mills campaign made the past Reddit comments a key focus of a new ad released earlier this week, specifically highlighting posts saying women should “act like an adult for f*** sake” and “not get so f***ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”

“Just no way I could vote for you,” a woman says in the ad.

In response, Platner re-shared a previous apology video from October and said in a post on X that he “was horrified” by the comments and “did not recognize the man on the other side of the posts.”

Samantha Cantrell, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson, said that “Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate is so unpopular in Maine that Elizabeth Warren just endorsed a guy with a Nazi tattoo.”

Despite the past controversies, most polling averages show Platner leading Gov. Mills ahead of the June 9 primary, according to RealClearPolling. The Cook Political Report has the general election race ranked as a “toss-up.”

Collins, who has represented Maine since 1997, won re-election in 2020 with roughly 51% of the vote, defeating Democrat Sara Gideon, who received about 42%.