There have certainly been some interesting developments in the Maine Democrat Senate primary race in recent weeks, with more unearthed Reddit posts showing Graham Platner's utter contempt for his fellow war veterans.
In one 2019 thread, the Bernie Sanders-backed candidate mocked U.S. Army Pfc. Ted Daniels, an eventual Purple Heart recipient who was shot by the Taliban during a 2012 Afghanistan mission. "This video never gets old. Dumb motherf***er didn't deserve to live," Platner wrote.
And over the weekend, news broke of a Platner sexting scandal involving as many as a dozen women whom the candidate "explicitly" sexted sometime after getting married in late 2023. Ironically, the information first came from his wife, Amy Gertner, who told a now-former campaign official about them in the summer of 2025, when the campaign was doing some self-vetting ahead of the Sanders endorsement announcement. In addition to that were revelations of an active Kik account, which is especially disturbing considering Kik is a known app for sexual predators targeting minors.
READ MORE: Maine Dem Senate Candidate Platner Says He Forgot to Close His Kik Account. Sure.
Watch: Platner Weighs in on 'Sexting' Story - It's an Absolute Trainwreck
As we've also reported, amid the sudden "concerns" being expressed by some Senate Democrats about Platner, rumors are swirling that there may be a Democrat movement underfoot to force the increasingly problematic Platner out of the race after the primary has concluded, assuming he wins it outright (SEE: Shades of 2024: Are Democrats Trying to 'Biden' Graham Platner?).
But "winning it outright" in the June 9 primary might be trickier than you think, thanks to a sly reminder on Sunday from Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), who was the Schumer-backed candidate who didn't put up much of a showing against Platner after entering the race in the fall of 2025.
As RedState readers will recall, Mills suspended her Senate campaign in late April, citing a lack of significant campaign funds to continue. She was careful not to endorse Platner in her announcement, but she was also careful not to do something else:
Despite suspending her active campaign on April 30 due to fundraising struggles and trailing in the polls, Mills told the Sun Journal on Sunday that her name will remain on the primary ballot.
“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’ but I simply suspended active campaigning,” Mills stated. “I am still on the ballot.”
Because the Governor never filed the formal paperwork required by the Maine Secretary of State to nullify votes cast for her, any votes she receives will still be counted. Notably, Mills has withheld endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, since pausing her campaign.
👀 As fallout continues over Graham Platner's sexually explicit texts, Janet Mills is reminding folks she's still on the ballot:
— Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) June 1, 2026
“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,'” Mills (D) told @PressHerald, “but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still…
Now, some might be thinking it's too late in the game for Mills to have a shot, considering not only her poor showing in the polls throughout her time as an active candidate but also because early voting for the primary has been underway since May 11th. But under certain circumstances, Maine uses ranked choice voting, and the Senate primary race qualifies for it:
Ranked-choice voting is used in state and federal primaries. It is also used in federal races during the general election. But it is not used in general elections for state representative, state senator or governor.
In the Democratic and Republican primaries this June, Maine voters will rank candidates for governor, the state Legislature and federal offices in order of preference. In this system, if one candidate is the first-choice pick of more than half the voters, that candidate is declared the winner. If no one gets more than 50 percent, there could be another round of counting, with candidates in last place eliminated and their votes reallocated to voters’ second-choice picks. That process can continue for multiple rounds until one candidate secures more than 50 percent and wins the election.
In addition to Platner and Mills, there is one other confirmed Democrat candidate on the ballot, David Costello, who has "25 years of work in senior government positions in Maine, Maryland, and Washington D.C" and who has sort of been waving his hand in the air in recent weeks as the Platner campaign has been rocked with one negative story after another.
As noted by NewsRadio WGAN, there's also a write-in candidate, Andrea LaFlamme, a "feminist, reproductive health advocate, public health professor, and union leader," according to her Bluesky profile.
There are a lot of ways this could turn out, of course. But something to keep in mind is that not only would Platner need more than Democrats to win against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the fall, he also needs the backing of Maine's women, who make up a sizeable chunk of the Pine Tree State's electorate:
More likely to kill his campaign to unseat Sen. Susan Collins than greedy millionaires, however, are independent and Democratic women who are increasingly fed up with rolling revelations about Platner’s past. On Saturday, it was reported that Platner sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women after getting married in 2023.
[...]
Social media is chock full of Maine women who say they’re no longer buying what Platner’s selling.
Will AWFLs (surprisingly enough) ultimately spell doom for Platner's primary campaign, or will independents spoil his attempt to unseat Collins in the fall? Or will a possible establishment move to force him out after the primary rip the party apart to the extent Collins will sail through in November? It's going to be very interesting to see how this all shakes out in the coming weeks.
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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