AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills (D) escalated Maine’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday with a sharp-edged campaign ad aimed directly at rival Graham Platner (D), reviving the controversy over his past online comments and signaling that the Democratic establishment is prepared to hit hard to protect its preferred candidate.
The ad, released Tuesday morning, features women aligned with Mills reading Platner’s past Reddit comments back to voters. Among the remarks highlighted are posts in which Platner said women should “take some responsibility for themselves” and not get so intoxicated that they end up in situations they later regret, along with another line telling women worried about rape to “act like an adult.” Mills’ campaign leaves little ambiguity about its message: Platner’s past is not just embarrassing, but politically toxic.
Platner responded on social media later Tuesday morning, again leaning on the apology he first issued when the posts resurfaced last fall. He said that when he reread the comments in October, he was “horrified” and did not recognize “the man on the other side of the posts,” adding that he had since apologized to Mainers and spoken with voters at town halls across the state. That response amounts to a familiar political argument: judge me by the man I am now, not by the man who wrote those posts years ago.
But Mills’ ad makes clear she has no intention of letting Democratic primary voters move on so easily. This was not a soft contrast spot about electability or experience. It was a character attack designed to reopen old wounds and define Platner before he can redefine himself. The ad’s structure makes that obvious: it places women at the center of the message, uses Platner’s own words against him, and frames the controversy as disqualifying rather than forgivable.
And the Reddit comments are only part of Platner’s political baggage. Reporting last fall detailed a broader history of inflammatory online posts, including remarks about sexual assault in the military, police, rural Americans, and race. He also faced a separate controversy over a tattoo closely resembling a Nazi-linked Totenkopf symbol, which he later said he would remove after claiming he did not understand its meaning when he got it. Those issues have shadowed his insurgent campaign for months and now give Mills a ready-made line of attack as voting season approaches.
What makes Tuesday’s ad even more significant is who stands behind Mills. She is not running as a lone incumbent trying to fend off a challenger. She is the clear favorite of the Democratic establishment, both in Maine and in Washington. National Democrats have treated Mills as a top recruit in their effort to field a strong candidate against Susan Collins, and Chuck Schumer has been widely identified as part of the party leadership encouraging and backing her candidacy.
That backing matters because it means Mills enters this primary with more than name recognition and incumbency. She has access to the party’s institutional muscle: donor networks, high-level validators, national messaging support, and the implicit blessing of the people who want a disciplined, controllable nominee in one of the country’s most important Senate races. In other words, Platner is not just fighting Janet Mills. He is fighting the machine behind Janet Mills.
Platner, by contrast, has drawn support from the progressive wing of the party, including Bernie Sanders and, more recently, Ruben Gallego, as Democrats split over whether the party should rally around the governor or take a chance on a populist outsider with clear liabilities. That split has turned Maine’s Senate primary into a proxy fight over the party’s future: establishment discipline versus insurgent energy, vetted candidate versus risky newcomer.
Tuesday’s ad suggests Mills and her allies have made their calculation. They are not going to allow Platner to run as a fresh-faced anti-establishment alternative without forcing voters to confront the ugliest parts of his record. Platner may hope that apologies, town halls, and the passage of time will persuade Democrats he has changed. Mills is betting that once voters take a closer look, they will decide change is not enough.
One thing is certain: this primary just got nastier, and a lot more consequential. With Mills backed by the Democratic establishment and Platner still trying to outrun his own past, Maine Democrats are headed for a fight that is now as much about character and control as it is about who can beat Susan Collins.
The battle between the devil and the antichrist…………………isn’t it time for him to get another Nazi tattoo? Maybe a hammer and sickle this time?
Isn’t about time for somebody to raise the issue of Janet Mills and cocaine?
Lots of people, male, female, and confused, have done stupid things while drunk when they were 19.
Lord knows I did.
I could almost respect him if he came out and said “look, I was young, I was drunk, I didn’t really know what it meant,and it was a bad idea that didn’t seem that at the time.“. I say almost because if he’s able to run to the United States Senate, if he thinks he can effectively represent me as United States senator, he’s got 100% disabled by PTSD. They are veteran who are, and he should leave the benefits for them.
What’s the thing I can damn Janet Mills for is her unwillingness to agree with him and tell young ladies that getting drunk out of their mind while going to a frat party wearing a miniskirt without underwear is not a good idea and that passing out drunk on the floor of the front house is not going to end well. Mills was a freaking attorney general and a DA before that, she’s prosecuted rape cases, and you think you should have enough integrity to warn young women about risky behavior.
I’ll say one thing, though, these two clowns are making Susan Collins looking better each and every day.