SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
maine
Platner Campaign Says Fundraising Up, Polling Lead Over Collins Holding, Despite Latest Smear Effort
"This campaign has always been about the ideas that will move Maine forward and past a broken politics of the past—just what the electorate and this moment demands," said Platner.
Jun 03, 2026
Releasing new polling and fundraising data that has been gathered in recent days, Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner emphasized Wednesday that despite the latest wave of attacks by party consultants and the media, voters across Maine appear focused on "the cost of living and whether it still trusts" Republican Senator Susan Collins.
"This is a race against an incumbent losing her grip on the voters who put her there," said Platner. "Across the board—the poll numbers, the fundraising, the conversations with voters—all signs point in our favor."
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of 670 voters, and found that the presumptive Democratic candidate had the support of 49% of respondents, compared with 45% who backed Collins.
Six percent of voters said they were undecided, and those respondents largely voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by a 23-point margin in 2024. They gave President Donald Trump a net -26 favorability rating, suggesting they're more likely to ultimately vote for Platner than the five-term Republican who cast decisive votes to help the president secure a right-wing US Supreme Court and has recently backed his invasion of Iran.
"Susan Collins is spineless and corrupt," said Platner on social media as his campaign released the internal polling results. "And in 153 days, we will defeat her."
The Maine Senate primary is being held on June 9. Platner's closest competitor, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign at the end of April after trailing him in polls and fundraising for months, making him the presumptive Democratic nominee.
The pollster surveyed Mainers after telling them about a former Platner campaign staffer's revelation over the weekend that the candidate's wife had told her about "sexually charged text messages" he sent to other women early in their marriage, an issue the couple says they worked through in counseling. The group also told voters that “critics say that Susan Collins used her position as US senator to help steer over $50 million in government contracts to her husband’s company."
When the voters were given the information, the four-point differential stayed the same, with Platner leading 48%-44%.
Platner said that over the past week, since the news broke about the couple's earlier marital struggles, the campaign has also "seen some of the strongest fundraising of the entire campaign."
Over four days following last Saturday, when the story set off a media firestorm, the campaign's fundraising was 17% higher than the previous four-day period.
It also saw an 18% increase in small-dollar donations overall, and a 27% increase in small-dollar donations that came from Mainers.
The campaign noted that media coverage on the ground in Maine this week tells a similar story to the one conveyed by the poll and the fundraising numbers.
On Tuesday, CBS News interviewed several voters who said the news about Platner's marriage and earlier controversies—none of which made a dent in polling for the candidate—would not change their voting plans.
Maine voters tells CBS News that Graham Platner’s sexting controversy won’t change their votes#MaineSenate pic.twitter.com/CNlNE6hp0J
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 2, 2026
A Maine resident named Anne Morrissey also told The Washington Post on Tuesday that she viewed the news of Platner's previous marital struggles as a "nothingburger."
"It's 2026," she said. "There are so many real problems."
Another voter, Tara Grady-Taylor, said the texting controversy “doesn’t change the amount of good he could do if he does the things he promises."
The Platner campaign described the message it is getting from Mainers as "steadfast."
"They care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their wages, their housing, and their kids," said Platner. "This campaign has always been about the ideas that will move Maine forward and past a broken politics of the past—just what the electorate and this moment demands."
Key Platner supporters in Congress have also called for the media to remain focused on the issues facing working families across the country, such as the rising cost of living, healthcare, and massive economic inequality—all of which Platner has made central focuses of his campaign.
When asked by The Associated Press on Monday whether he still supports Platner, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) replied, "Of course. Why would I not?"
“People can’t afford healthcare. Can’t afford groceries. Can’t afford to put gas in their cars," said Sanders. "And I think it might be a good idea if we focused on the important issues facing the working families of Maine and this country."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Platner Hits Back After Collins Shirks Responsibility for Votes That Sent Troops Like Him to War
"There's nothing more Orwellian than voting to send 18-year-olds to die in another forever war—and then blaming them for it."
May 28, 2026
Republican US Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was widely dragged Thursday after she responded to upstart Democratic challenger Graham Platner's criticism of her vote for the Iraq War by trying to make the issue about him.
Platner—a Marine Corps combat veteran turned staunch opponent of illegal wars of choice—told The New York Times earlier this month that "we destroyed Iraq and we destroyed Afghanistan, and all the suffering, all the killing, all the dying, all the displacement—we, the United States, did that."
"The anger that I feel is for the people that sent me, who are frankly still the same people who are sending people off right now to be in harm’s way so we can have this stupid war with Iran," the presumptive Democratic nominee continued. "Susan Collins voted to send me to Iraq, and she’s also there to help [President] Donald Trump continue this absolutely insane conflict in the Strait of Hormuz."
"If I have any anger, it is reserved for the political system itself and the people in it who view war not as a thing that has a human toll but as a political game," Platner added.
Collins, who is trailing Platner by nearly double-digits in head-to-head polling, told The Maine Wire on Thursday that the Democrat "not only enlisted twice after the war was started, but he also went to work for a security company, a controversial one, named Blackwater, after his term in the service was over."
"So I respect anyone who steps forward to serve their country," Collins added, "but the fact is, that was Platner's decision to serve. He was not drafted."
Collins has voted for US wars fought in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. The Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs estimates that more than 940,000 people—including over 432,000 civilians—were killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan between 2001 and 2023.
More than 7,000 US service members died in the post-9/11 wars, which cost American taxpayers more than $8 trillion.
Collins has also backed the illegal US-Israeli war of choice on Iran and supported the invasion of Venezuela and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The senator faced immediate backlash for her remarks.
"It was your decision as a senator to send Americans to fight in a dumb and pointless Iraq War," Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) said on social media. "You voted for it. Do you tell the kids and widows of the Iraq War dead that it was their fallen hero’s fault for enlisting?"
Independent journalist Nathan Bernard said on X that "voting to send thousands of soldiers to die and then blaming them for dying doesn't seem like a great way to win over voters, especially veterans."
David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, also took to X, writing: "While [Platner] was deployed in Iraq in 2007, Collins cast one of the deciding votes to block legislation to create a timetable for ending the war and bringing Platner and other troops home. She literally voted to *keep* Platner in Iraq."
Sam Seder, host of "The Majority Report With Sam Seder," accused Collins of "a stunning abdication."
"If she regrets her support of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, she should say so instead of pretending the all-volunteer military owns all responsibility," he wrote.
Platner responded to Collins' attack by noting that the senator "voted to support starting the war in Iraq."
He continued:
On three occasions after that, she voted against withdrawing troops. On at least two occasions, she voted to fund the war. Now, all these years later, instead of acknowledging that she was wrong, she's decided that she's going to blame those of us, who in our late teens and early 20s, signed up to serve our country. That somehow it's our fault that she and establishment politicians like her wanted to abuse our willingness to serve, to go send us off to fight in stupid wars that did nothing but make some people very, very rich at the expense of American taxpayer dollars.
"It's no surprise to me, because even today, she continues to not stand up against the stupid war in Iran," Platner said. "She continues to not stand up against any of the abuses or the idiocy coming out of the Trump administration."
"This is very, very expected from establishment Republican politicians who love to talk about supporting the troops, but in the end, will always desert us," he added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Platner Opens Up 9-Point Lead Even After Pro-Collins PAC Spends Millions on Negative Ads
The University of New Hampshire poll also showed progressive candidate Troy Jackson tied for first in the Democratic Maine gubernatorial primary.
May 27, 2026
Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Maine, has opened up a nine-point lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, according to a poll released Wednesday by the University of New Hampshire.
In a head-to-head matchup, the poll shows Platner gaining 51% of the vote, compared to 42% for Collins (R-Maine).
A February UNH poll showed Platner with an 11-point lead over Collins, although that survey left Platner just short of getting 50% of voters.
In 2020, polls universally showed Collins trailing against Democratic nominee Sara Gideon, although those same polls also rarely showed Gideon reaching or exceeding the 50% threshold.
The UNH poll is the second major poll released since Platner's chief rival, Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign nearly a month ago. Last week, a Pan Atlantic Research survey showed Platner leading Collins by seven percentage points, an increase from a March survey that showed him leading by four points.
Platner's widening lead comes even as a super political action committee (PAC) supporting Collins has spent millions of dollars in negative ads against the presumptive Democratic nominee, criticizing posts he wrote on Reddit several years ago and his since-covered tattoo of a skull and crossbones resembling an insignia worn by Nazi soldiers.
Semafor politics reporter Dave Weigel argued that the latest polls appear to show that Maine voters "have processed that [Platner is] the Bad Posts and Tat guy already," and are still supporting his campaign.
Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim similarly observed that the latest bad poll for Collins came "after the GOP threw their best... oppo at Platner."
The poll also showed progressive gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, the former president of the Maine state Senate, was tied in the primary race with former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah; both had the support of 28% of respondents.
The same poll showed in February that Jackson was in third place, behind Shah and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
Like Platner, Jackson has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and has run a campaign focused on issues affecting working Mainers. Platner said at a rally this week that he had ranked Jackson first on his ballot during early voting in Maine, which uses ranked choice voting.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular