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Graham Platner\u2019s wife called the media reports that her husband had previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women \u201cshameful\u201d over the weekend, the latest controversy to hit the Maine Democrat\u2019s whirlwind Senate campaign.<\/p>\n
Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, posted a video taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year. In the five-minute video, Gertner avoided speaking directly about her husband\u2019s reported texts, dubbing the broader coverage as \u201cgossip\u201d and saying that \u201cbeing married is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it really shameful that there\u2019s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip,\u201d she said in the informal, selfie-style video where she walked along a road. \u201cNo marriage is perfect, and I don\u2019t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Platner is seeking the Democratic nomination for one of the most closely watched Senate races as Democrats hope to defeat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the party\u2019s efforts to win control of the narrowly divided Senate. The Maine primary is June 9.<\/p>\n
Genevieve McDonald, a then-campaign staffer for Platner, told the The Associated Press that the candidate was \u201csexting multiple women while married\u201d and that \u201cthe campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Platner told reporters Sunday that what McDonald had said wasn\u2019t true. Asked if he was confirming that the text messages didn\u2019t exist, Platner replied, \u201cI\u2019m confirming that what Genevieve McDonald said in The New York Times is not true.\u201d Platner didn\u2019t provide any specifics. He was referring to a Times story that names McDonald Saturday, after\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0first reported the story.<\/p>\n
Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren\u2019t a liability to the campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal. Platner\u2019s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023. The two are in counseling, Gertner has said.<\/p>\n
Platner told reporters that he and Gertner spoke with the campaign about their marriage, but reiterated that McDonald\u2019s claims were false.<\/p>\n
Platner\u2019s campaign on Sunday did not specifically confirm the text messages to the AP, but issued a statement from Gertner saying the disclosure of the conversations she had with a campaign aide was a betrayal that \u201cdeeply hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives \u2014 the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not Platner\u2019s first controversy<\/p>\n
Platner, who has never held public office, has a gruff, less buttoned-up approach on the campaign trail, fashioned a platform around economic equality and has already had to navigate statements that surfaced from his past.<\/p>\n
The candidate had a\u00a0tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn\u2019t realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. There\u2019s also been much attention on his former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.<\/p>\n
Platner\u2019s campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds. Mills, a two-term governor, had been seen as one of the Democrats\u2019 top 2026 recruits when she entered the Senate race before her campaign fizzled out.<\/p>\n
Platner has still pulled support from big-name Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego as well as U.S. House Rep. Ro Khanna. The latter is scheduled to rally with Platner on Friday, and so far, it appears he hasn\u2019t lost any endorsements with this latest texting revelation.<\/p>\n
Two Democratic senators on Sunday declined to directly address the topic when pressed by reporters. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation\u201d that Platner had served his country and community, but \u201calso made mistakes and he has admitted that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union,\u201d New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim sidestepped, too. \u201cWith any campaign in the country, the character and the transparency about the different candidates is going to come out,\u201d said Kim, \u201cand the voters are going to decide what they ultimately think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barreling forward Sunday, Platner posted a video on X from an event \u201chappening now\u201d where he entered a room to a standing ovation from ecstatic supporters.<\/p>\n
Questions over whether additional controversial information about Platner could still surface have added to some Democrats\u2019 anxiety over his chances in a general election against Collins, who has represented Maine in the Senate since 1997.<\/p>\n
In October, after the revelation that he once had a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest and promptly had it covered, the AP asked him if other scandals were on the horizon.<\/p>\n
Platner said he was expecting his opponents were \u201cgoing to keep dragging things up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to keep making things up,\u201d he said. \u201cI fully expect people to just lie about me at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voters are familiar with the couple\u2019s struggles, including with infertility and traveling out of the country to afford IVF treatment, which they\u2019ve discussed on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
In late April, Platner shared that Gertner had suffered a miscarriage, and he\u2019s discussed his own mental health struggles and the role of his family and therapist in helping.<\/p>\n
Former aide explains why she went public<\/p>\n
McDonald initially worked on Platner\u2019s campaign as his political director and resigned a few months later when his now-deleted Reddit posts began surfacing, saying she couldn\u2019t stand behind him as a candidate. She later declined a severance offer from the campaign in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, McDonald wrote on Facebook that Platner\u2019s campaign had \u201cdemanded\u201d she retract her statements she had made to The Wall Street Journal or his team would accuse her of violating the couple\u2019s trust. McDonald wasn\u2019t named in the newspaper\u2019s article, but after that exchange, she said she made the choice to be publicly named in a New York Times story.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis consultants greatly overestimate how much I do not aspire to be them,\u201d she wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
After resigning from Platner\u2019s campaign, McDonald moved to help Democrat Jordan Wood\u2019s congressional campaign in Maine\u2019s second district. McDonald submitted her resignation from Wood\u2019s campaign Saturday morning, according to Wood\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
Wood endorsed Platner after Mills dropped out.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas and Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
#married #hard #Graham #Platners #wife #rips #media #reports #husbands #sexual #texts #gossip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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