Democrats hope to recruit Governor Janet Mills to challenge the powerful Republican senator, but an oyster farmer with a working man’s pitch thinks he has a better chance.
Annie Karni
Aug. 19, 2025
Enter Graham Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and former Marine who served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and is set on Tuesday to announce a long-shot challenge to Ms. Collins, with a campaign focused on making life better for his state’s working class.
A competitive pistol shooter who worked as a bartender at the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill while attending George Washington University on the G.I. Bill, he said that “everyone knows we live in a system that is not built to represent working-class people.”
Mr. Platner said he had been approached in the past to run for local office, and had always turned it down. But when a group of labor unions focused on climate issues reached out to him about running for Senate, Mr. Platner found himself open to the idea.
Oh man. Of course this would be the NYT refraiming.
Fuck legacy media. Fuck NYT.
Just please don’t pull a Fetterman istg
