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◆ Mixed look for PlatnerElections / Campaigns

Janet Mills' attack on Graham Platner puts Maine women at the center of their race

Platner called the ad divisive, apologized for his past comments and received public defenses from supporters.

Janet Mills' attack on Graham Platner puts Maine women at the center of their race
Image · Bangor Daily News

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Outlet credibilityBangor Daily News77/100 HIGH
This article1 analysis · Oct 8, 2026
tl;dr

Janet Mills’s campaign released an ad highlighting Graham Platner’s old Reddit comments about sexual violence, intensifying their contest for the Democratic Senate nomination in Maine. Both candidates and their supporters used the dispute to appeal to women voters.

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Maine Senate candidate whose past Reddit comments became the subject of a Mills campaign ad

PRIMARY SUBJECT

Maine governor and Senate candidate whose campaign released an attack ad against Graham Platner

Mills's version of this story ↗
Susan M. Collins
R · ME · SEN

Maine’s incumbent Republican senator and the candidates’ general-election opponent

Chuck Schumer
D · NY · SEN

Senate Minority Leader who recruited Mills

ALSO MENTIONED  Christopher Nicholas, Pennsylvania Republican campaign consultant commenting on the primary; Megan Smith, Bangor community organizer who spoke in support of Platner; Peggy Schaffer, Former Maine Democratic Party vice chair and Mills ad supporter; Rebecca Hartwell, Platner volunteer who defended him against what she called smear campaigns

Part of a bigger story

11 OUTLETS
Graham Platner Releases Ads Responding to Janet Mills’ Criticism

Outlets agree Janet Mills criticized Graham Platner over old online comments in an ad, and Platner answered with ads of his own. Center outlets describe the dispute through Mills’s ad and Platner’s response, with some attention to her appeal to women voters and the candidates’ primary contest. Right-leaning outlets present his response ad and apology as part of a more negative turn in the primary.

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