Graham Platner Has a New Problem

Graham Platner has skated though his campaign despite the Nazi tattoo and despite all of the old social media posts in which he mocks gay people, white people, police, women, black people, fellow soldiers and just about anyone else you can think of.

At this point it seems like we’ve probably dug all of the skeleton’s in his closet. But today there’s a new story sourced to one of his former campaign aides who resigned last year. Apparently Platner’s wife found a bunch of explicit texts with other women on his phone and decided to warn the campaign staff about it in case it was a problem.

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that shortly after Platner launched his US Senate bid last August, his wife, Amy Gertner, revealed to a campaign aide that she had discovered sexually explicit texts with several women on his phone months earlier.

According to the Journal, Gertner told the campaign aide about the texts to flag a possible risk to Platner’s candidacy. Ultimately, the campaign’s braintrust decided it was a private issue, and they moved forward with a scheduled rally with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who was a crucial early backer of Platner.

In a statement provided to the Globe via Platner’s campaign, Gertner said she confided those details to “someone I considered a friend” and accused the person of going on to “spread malicious gossip to anyone who would take her call.”

Granted, this potentially is a private matter for Platner and his wife to work out, but we’ve just seen one prominent Democrat who seemed to be headed for a win the California Governor’s race forced to drop out. Those allegations against Eric Swalwell seem to be much more serious (and less consensual) than the allegations against Platner.

Genevieve McDonald, a former state legislator who was the Platner campaign’s political director before leaving in October, said Ms. Gertner reached out just days before a big Labor Day rally with Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, and was concerned her husband’s behavior could become a political liability.

Ms. McDonald said Ms. Gertner told her that her husband had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women.

A current Platner campaign official said Mr. Platner had been communicating with up to six women.

Platner’s response to every negative story that has come out has been the same. I was a different person 14 years ago. It was a dark period of my life, but I’m better now. 

“I was just a wreck of a human being,” he told The Times.

He sought therapy and has apologized for some incendiary posts on Reddit, urging Mainers not to judge him for “the worst thing I said on the internet, on my worst day 14 years ago.”

Voters seem inclined to believe him, but what if the dark period of his life didn’t end a decade ago? What if it was still a dark period in 2023 or 2024? What is he doing now that we don’t know about?

Toward the end of a town hall meeting in Sabattus, Maine, in April, the night before Ms. Mills dropped out, a Platner supporter named Carolyn Greeley asked him a blunt question.

“Is there anything you need to share with us?” she asked…

He had dated, had girlfriends, “gone through life.” But everything had already been “dragged up,” he promised the crowd.

So far it seems Platner hasn’t responded, just his wife and his campaign.

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