Platner Gets Defensive After Admitting To Explicit Messages With Other Women

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner acknowledged Thursday that he sent sexually explicit messages to other women shortly after getting married while simultaneously denying a new round of allegations about his past relationships during a damage-control interview on MS NOW.

The appearance on MS NOW’s “All In with Chris Hayes” marked Platner’s first major national television interview since the New York Times published a lengthy report detailing allegations from former romantic partners just days before Maine Democrats head to the polls.

Asked directly whether he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with other women in 2023 and 2024 while married to his wife, Amy Gertner, Platner did not dispute the underlying conduct.

“At the beginning of our marriage, I made mistakes, and Amy held me accountable for them, and we worked through them,” Platner told Hayes. “The work that we did made our marriage significantly stronger.”

The admission comes after weeks of scrutiny surrounding reports that Platner exchanged explicit messages with multiple women after marrying Gertner in 2023. Hayes repeatedly pressed the Democrat on the timeline, asking when the behavior ended. “It happened soon after we got married, and we dealt with it very, very early in our relationship,” Platner said. “That’s when it stopped.”

Hayes: Were you sending sexually explicit messages to other women back in 2023 2024?

Platner: At the beginning of our marriage, I made mistakes and Amy held me accountable for them, and we worked through them. And the work that we did made our marriage significantly stronger.… pic.twitter.com/1X5eInnI9K

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 5, 2026

Platner is also a registered user on Kik, which the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has described as a “predator’s paradise,” thanks to a number of features that allow underage users to join the app and communicate with adults, The Daily Wire first reported last weekend. 

Later in the MS NOW interview, Platner said the women he messaged after getting married were adults and that the exchanges were consensual. Asked whether he knew their ages, Platner replied, “Yes. Oh God, I mean, yes, of course.”

While acknowledging mistakes in his marriage, Platner attempted to draw a distinction between those actions and the more serious allegations contained in Thursday’s New York Times report, which was based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including six former romantic partners.

Some former girlfriends described Platner as caring and supportive. Others characterized him as “toxic,” “unsettling,” and volatile, alleging he drank heavily, was frequently unfaithful, and in some instances behaved aggressively toward women.

“There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true,” Platner said. “Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who’s politically motivated.”

One former girlfriend alleged Platner physically intimidated her during arguments, including grabbing her wrist, putting his hands on her shoulders, and pushing her into a room before holding the door shut.

When Hayes asked whether those incidents occurred, Platner flatly denied them. Hayes followed up by asking whether the woman was lying about the allegations. “Yes, that is not true. No, it did not happen,” Platner responded.

Platner also revisited a controversy that has followed his campaign for months involving a tattoo of the Nazi Totenkopf, or “death’s head,” symbol.

The Times reported that a former partner claimed Platner referred to the tattoo as “my Totenkopf” years before he publicly stated he learned of its Nazi associations. Platner denied the allegation. “I had that tattoo for 17 years. It’s a skull and crossbones,” he said.

The Democrat argued that he could not have knowingly displayed Nazi imagery, noting that he obtained a State Department security clearance, reenlisted in the Army, and regularly spent time with Jewish family members while the tattoo remained visible.

“Any statement saying that I did know is, again, totally false,” he said.

The interview represented Platner’s latest attempt to reassure Democrats nervous about a steady stream of controversies surrounding his candidacy.

Earlier this week, Platner met privately with Senate Democrats in Washington after reports emerged that party leaders were increasingly concerned about whether additional damaging revelations could surface before the general election. Platner told the lawmakers that no credible new allegations were forthcoming and that “the worst of the rumors” circulating about him were false.

Platner has argued that voters should focus on his policy agenda rather than his personal life, while his wife has publicly defended him and criticized the publication of private communications.

But Thursday’s interview also underscored a political reality confronting the Democratic nominee: even as he disputes some of the most serious accusations against him, he is now openly acknowledging conduct that has become central to the growing controversy surrounding his campaign.