By Mandy Taheri0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Republican Senator Susan Collins is tightening the race in Maine, with a new internal poll showing Democratic candidate Graham Platner holding a narrower lead days after reports surfaced that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women during his marriage.
The disclosure comes just over a week before the June 9 primary, as Platner, a Marine Corps veteran and coastal Maine oyster farmer, has gained momentum in recent polls against the Republican incumbent in a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Newsweek has reached out to Platner and Collins’ press teams for comment via email on Wednesday evening.
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What the Poll Shows
A new Public Policy Polling survey found Platner leading the race by 4 points. The poll of 670 registered Maine voters found the Democrat up 49 percent to Collins’ 45 percent, with 6 percent undecided. Political analyst Nate Silver rates the pollster a B+, noting a democratic lean of 0.88.
Among those undecided, “they voted for Kamala Harris by a 23-point margin in 2024, and give President Trump a net -26 favorability rating now, suggesting they’re more likely to break for Platner than for Collins as they make their decisions for the Senate race,” Silver said.
...The survey was conducted on June 2 and June 3, after the text scandal was reported, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Silver, forecaster and statistician behind Silver Bulletin, said in an X post responding to the poll, “An internal poll showing +4 is not super reassuring given that internal polls typically exaggerate their candidate's standing by 4 points or so. And that's smaller than Platner's lead in most public polls before.”
In a follow-up post, he wrote, “Not to mention the history of polls underrating Collins and other Republicans in Maine.”
The Maine Senate Race
Maine is a politically competitive state that has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, with former Vice President Kamala Harris carrying it by about 7 points in November 2024 against President Donald Trump.
But the state has also shown a history of backing moderate Republicans, including Collins, who has repeatedly won reelection despite Democratic gains at the presidential level, as well as independents like Senator Angus King. The race has been labeled a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report.
National Democrats view flipping Collins' seat—which she has held since 1997—as one of their best pickup opportunities on the map and a critical pillar in their strategy to win back the Senate majority in this year's midterm elections.
...After Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, suspended her campaign, Platner is believed to be the front-runner for the party’s nomination to match up against Collins, though David Costello remains on the Democratic primary ballot. Crucially for voters, because Mills withdrew late in the cycle, her name will still appear on the June 9 primary ballot. Platner is backed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
However, he has faced a steady stream of controversies on the campaign trail due to uncovered Reddit posts that included offensive language, racial remarks and comments about sexual assault, as well as the revelation that he had a tattoo resembling the Totenkopf, or “death’s head,” a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS. Platner has apologized for his past online remarks and the tattoo, saying he was unaware of the tattoo's meaning when he got it as a Marine in Croatia, and attributing his past internet rants to struggles with PTSD after his military discharge.
Platner’s Latest Controversy
Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, reportedly informed Platner campaign aides during an internal vetting exercise in August that he had sent sexually explicit text messages to several women. The disclosure was intended to ensure the information did not catch the campaign off guard. A campaign official told The Wall Street Journal that aides believed the matter should be handled between Gertner and Platner, who were in marriage counseling at the time.
In a Sunday text message, Genevieve McDonald, former state legislator and Platner campaign political director until October, who had been cited as bringing the information forward, told Newsweek: "I can confirm the details of what has been reported and what Graham Platner’s campaign has already admitted to on the record, that he was sexting multiple women while married and that the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability when his wife brought it to the campaign’s attention."
Platner addressed the allegations publicly on Sunday following a campaign stop in Portland. Speaking alongside his wife, he dismissed the reports as “gossip” and suggested they were intended to distract from the issues driving his campaign.
“The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer,” Platner said in an interview with local outlet NEWS CENTER Maine, calling the coverage “journalistic malpractice.” He also denied key claims made by a former campaign aide cited in the reporting, saying, “I’m confirming that what Genevieve McDonald said … is not true.”
At the same time, Platner acknowledged strains in his marriage, though he framed them as resolved.
“Amy and I went through something hard—because of me. We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day,” he said in a written statement released Sunday.
"Graham and I have a great marriage," Gertner said in a video posted by Platner's campaign late Saturday. "Being married is hard.”
...High-profile progressives like Sanders continue to support Platner, with the Vermont senator saying on Monday, “People can’t afford healthcare. Can’t afford groceries. Can’t afford to put gas in their cars. 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.”
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, is expected to host a rally with Platner on Friday in Bar Harbor just days ahead of the primary.
Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told NBC News, “We know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience. He's been very clear and open with his wife, and they worked through whatever they worked through. At the end of the day, this man has had 60 more town halls than Susan Collins has. He's winning the polls, he's willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and I think we should accept that.”
What Do Other Polls Show?
A new Pine Tree State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center from May 21 to May 25 found Platner leading the race, with 51 percent of the vote compared to Collins’ 42 percent. About 6 percent of voters were undecided and 2 percent said they would back a different candidate.
The polling shows a similar landscape to February, though the share of undecided voters has narrowed. A poll that month found Platner leading Collins 49 percent to 38 percent, with 9 percent undecided and 4 percent backing another candidate.
...Independents are split in the new poll, with 47 percent backing Collins and 44 percent supporting Platner.
The poll is one of the few since Mills dropped out of the race, narrowing the Democratic field. The poll of 1,397 Maine residents has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
A recent poll from Pan Atlantic Research—the first since Mills ended her campaign—showed Platner with an advantage. He led Collins by 7 points, with support from 48 percent of respondents compared to the Republican senator’s 41 percent. Eleven percent said they were still undecided. It surveyed 827 likely voters from May 8 to May 18 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
A Maine People’s Resource Center poll, which surveyed 1,167 likely voters from March 20 to March 31, also showed Platner leading Collins by 9 points, 48 percent to 39 percent.
A March Emerson College poll showed Platner up 7 points over Collins in a general election, 48 percent to 41 percent. It surveyed 1,075 likely voters from March 21 to March 23 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
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