Graham Platner’s wife reportedly alerted his Maine Senate campaign about his sexually explicit texts with several women days before he announced he was running for the office.
Amy Gertner told the campaign she found the messages in the spring of 2025, early into her marriage with the Democratic contender, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Ms. Gertner disclosed the texts to a campaign aide conducting opposition research last August to ward off risks to Mr. Platner’s campaign.
A campaign official told the Journal that the aide ultimately decided the texts were a private matter being handled by the couple in marriage counseling.
Ms. Gertner said she and her husband “did the hard work that marriage requires.”
“We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy,” she said in a statement provided by Mr. Platner’s campaign to the outlet. “And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before.”
She continued, “I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t.”
Mr. Platner previously faced backlash for a series of posts from his now-deleted Reddit account — topics that include everything from sexual assault to military veterans.
In 2013, he wrote on Reddit, “How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f——- up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?”
Later, he mocked a Purple Heart recipient, calling the wounded soldier a “dumb motherf——-” who “didn’t deserve to live.”
Meanwhile, he deemed all police officers “bastards,” agreed with posts calling white, rural Mainers “racist and stupid,” and asked, “Why don’t Black people tip?”
Mr. Platner has apologized for the remarks, blaming the “stupid joke comments” on the mental health struggles, isolation and violent culture he experienced after returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His old posts nonetheless fueled attack ads from Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign ahead of June 9’s Democratic primary.
His remaining primary competitor is David Costello, who ran two years ago in the race to unseat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
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