Shades of 2024: Are Democrats Trying to 'Biden' Graham Platner?

Democrats are not taking the latest revelations about their presumptive Senate nominee for Maine, Graham Platner, very well.

As RedState reported, The Wall Street Journal broke a story on Saturday that centered on how Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, had shared with campaign officials information about how her husband had exchanged sexually explicit texts with somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen women. The campaign had been doing some research of its own into Platner in the summer of 2025, and Gertner informed them ahead of a scheduled rally where Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was set to endorse Platner.

They were married in late 2023, and Gertner discovered them in the spring of 2025, when they were still newlyweds. Conveniently, a campaign official told The New York Times that "the conduct had stopped...before the campaign launched." Of course it did.

Maine Dem Senate Candidate Platner Says He Forgot to Close His Kik Account. Sure.

Here's something interesting about this story that, as my colleague Brad Slager hinted at in his write-up, is fueling speculation that Democrats may try to force Platner out of the race.

If you read between the lines, this story was very likely sourced by a former campaign official, Genevieve McDonald, who left the campaign in October when the first of the Reddit posts were unearthed in the early fall, and news of the Nazi tattoo broke. She spoke out against him at the time, stating that "He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff. Maybe he didn't know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means."

McDonald was the one Gertner went to with the information in the summer of 2025, according to the Times report, which quotes McDonald extensively. Gertner, in turn, has said she feels "betrayed" by McDonald, whom she "considered a friend." Amazingly, when confronted with the sexts, a current (unnamed) campaign official didn't even deny it, but said the number of sexting partners was closer to six, not a dozen.

Though the unofficial Democrat line on this so far seems to be "how dare you use private marital woes against Graham Platner," if you read between the lines, you see that they are also fuming that they are having to keep defending indefensible stuff and are worried this will also cost them the Senate because they need more than just Democrat votes in the fall election to defeat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME):

Remember when Cal Cunningham lost to Thom Tillis over sexts in the NC Senate race in 2020? Would have had 51 Dem Senators and no Manchin veto. That kind of sucked. https://t.co/Fi0LoOuvwk
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) May 30, 2026

The more one looks at the totality of the information on Platner that's out there (some of which undoubtedly came from Gov. Janet Mills' failed campaign and oppo research done by allies of Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who wanted her over Platner), there appears to be a growing consensus that Platner has become too much of a liability and that Democrats need to find a way out.

So, could they pull a Joe Biden on Platner and shame or force him to drop out at some point?

It's pretty clear that the Democrats strategy is to pull a Robert Torricelli with Graham Platner & swap him out for a more electable candidate. That's why Democrats are dropping all their op-research on him now. Republicans are not going to drop theirs until after July 14th. https://t.co/yxLuTBrboE
— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) May 30, 2026

RedState's Shipwreckedcrew went into deeper detail on how this would be possible:

This is getting very curious. These influential voices are coming out on this point VERY LATE. The primary is June 9.
I do not think anything will happen in advance of the primary, and Platner is going to win with no real opponent still in the race.
BUT, under Maine law, if Platner were to drop out after winning the primary, he could be replaced by the Dems on the General Election ballot ONLY IF:
1. He drops out prior to the 2nd Monday in July, and
2. His replacement is named by the 4th Monday in July.
I think we are seeing the unfolding of a plan by the Dem. establishment OUTSIDE of Maine to begin a drumbeat for Platner to exit the race after the primary, and let the Party hand-pick a replacement for the General.
Pro-Tip -- always read state law to figure out that plan that might be in the process of being hatched behind closed doors.

This is getting very curious. These influential voices are coming out on this point VERY LATE. The primary is June 9.

I do not think anything will happen in advance of the primary, and Platner is going to win with no real opponent still in the race.

BUT, under Maine law, if… https://t.co/SSiVPBrqQp
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) May 30, 2026

I think people are missing something with this Platner stuff right now.

This is being done by Democrats. They want him out. They want him to drop out so they can do the undemocratic thing and appoint someone to replace him.
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 31, 2026

DC Examiner senior writer David Harsanyi wrote, "This really does feel like a Dem op to push Platner out before more dirt hits during the general."

I agree. Something is up.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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