Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women during his marriage, according to information his wife shared with his campaign last year, as reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Platner, an oyster farmer and former US marine, is the presumptive Democratic nominee for the US Senate after his main competitor, Janet Mills, suspended her campaign last month. He is challenging five-term Republican senator Susan Collins. His campaign has faced controversy over racist, sexist and homophobic online posts and a tattoo of a Totenkopf, a Nazi symbol.
After Platner launched his campaign in August 2025, his team conducted opposition research. His wife, Amy Gertner, told the campaign's then political director, Genevieve McDonald, that she had found explicit messages on his phone in spring 2025. The couple began marriage counselling, and campaign aides decided the messages were a private matter.
In a statement, Gertner said she was 'deeply hurt' that McDonald shared details with reporters. 'I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,' she said. 'We did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counselling. We were honest with each other... Our marriage today is stronger than ever before.'
McDonald told the New York Times: 'The United States Senate is not a training ground for redemption. It is a place for proven leaders with moral clarity and integrity.' She was one of three campaign officials who resigned after details of Platner's tattoo and social media posts were revealed in October.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Platner has an active account on Kik, a messaging platform sometimes used for sexting, under the username phustle0331, with a profile picture showing a shirtless man with tattoos matching his own.
