Maine
Graham Platner Should Run for Maine State Legislature
On October 15, Graham Platner, the 41-year-old military veteran and rural Maine oyster farmer running for U.S. Senate, told The Bulwark that “I don’t have that many” skeletons in his closest. Asked about the fact he is “just not as tested” as the newest entrant to the race, the 77-year-old incumbent Governor Janet Mills, Platner replied, “We’ve been sending up well-tested people for decades, and the country is in worse straits than it’s ever been.”
On October 16, questionable social media posts by Platner began to make their way into the media, in which he victim-blamed rape survivors, asked “why don’t black people tip?”, suggested support for political violence, and dubbed himself a “communist” and a “vegetable growing, psychedelics taking socialist.” In a thread titled, “white people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” Platner responded, “Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.” One of Platner’s top campaign aides resigned in response. The candidate has since been on an apology tour, characterizing the comments as byproducts of a rough transition into civilian life after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not reflective of who he is today.
When Mills entered the race to be the nominee against the Democratic Party’s white whale—five-term incumbent Senator Susan Collins—concerns about Mills’s age immediately surfaced, although Collins herself will turn 73 later this year. Some Democrats expressed frustration with yet another septuagenarian running for high office—after the calamitous, truncated Joe Biden re-election effort and the painful end of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s career.
Furthermore, Platner had been in the race for two months, earning favorable attention and endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders as well as big unions thanks to his gruff, blunt charisma, military service, and blue-collar work as an oysterman, and left-leaning politics. Shouldn’t the aging Mills let a fresh face take the spotlight?
The downside of that logic is now plain. A handful of social media rantings is not “that many” skeletons, but they are enough to rattle Platner’s chances.
The former Marine still has defenders, not just regarding his own character, but regarding how we should view unvarnished social media posting in the modern age. Representative Ro Khanna, on X, accused the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee of leaking Platner’s social media history to the media, and declared, “I respect Platner’s journey & the man he is today. I reject the politics of personal destruction. I stand by my endorsement.” Ryan Grim of Drop Site News on X, in response to Platner’s disavowal video, argued more broadly, “If being angry as a young man disqualifies you from running for office later as a Democrat, Dems will have basically no men running.”
People of any gender can be and have been intemperate on social media, so I don’t think gender is relevant to whether Democrats should shun candidates with checkered social media histories. But there’s validity to the argument that in the social media era, it’s really easy to have bad moments online that don’t capture an individual’s full character. Besides, there are many people in elective office—including in the Oval Office—who have overcome, or even embraced, offensive posts. So, why assume that voters will find Platner’s past disqualifying?
However, the question runs both ways: Why assume Platner can convince voters his social media past is not indicative of flawed character? Platner isn’t as tested as Mills, not just as a candidate but as a public official.
To Platner’s credit, the resident of tiny Sullivan near Bar Harbor, chairs his town’s planning board and is harbormaster. (Maine has cool government positions!) But if Platner were a state legislator or statewide official, he could more easily tell Maine voters: You know me, you’ve worked with me, you’ve seen my record of accomplishments, and you know these old posts don’t reflect who I am today and how I would serve as your United States Senator.
Being in the statehouse doesn’t make one bulletproof of course. Collins survived her last campaign against Sara Gideon, who was Speaker of the Maine House, thanks to a negative ad campaign full of falsehoods. But without some sort of track record and a relationship with the Maine electorate, a candidate has little ability to defuse questions about character.
So instead of asking the entire state of Maine to roll the dice, Platner should consider competing for the District 12 seat in the Maine House of Representatives.
That seat is currently held by the Republicans’ House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham. Whatever is in Platner’s past can’t compare to Faulkingham’s past criminal convictions for assault and “throwing a bucket of excrement” at people. Presumably defeating a Republican incumbent in rural Maine would be a challenge for Platner, but if he truly has the charisma as a straight-talking Maine veteran and oyster farmer, then let’s see it work on the local level before presuming it’ll work statewide.
Maybe Platner isn’t a racist, misogynistic communist. But that’s not enough to conclude he is prepared to run a U.S. Senate campaign, much less be a United States Senator. Younger Democrats should be moving up the ranks. But going step-by-step still has its merits.
Related
HARPSWELL (WGME) — The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office says a person was hospitalized after a shed fire Wednesday night.
Firefighters were called to 23 Smokehouse Road in Harpswell for a shed fire around 7 p.m.
Crews quickly put out the fire and kept it from spreading into the woods.
An unhoused person who had been living in the shed suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
They were taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment.
Investigators believe the fire may have been electrical in nature.
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The fire remains under investigation.
Three tornadoes have been confirmed across New England so far in 2026, and remarkably, all of them have occurred in Vermont.
Two of those tornadoes touched down during severe thunderstorms on June 18, when a potent weather system swept across the region.
Vermont tornadoes in 2026 (WGME).
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado in Lincoln with peak winds of 105 mph and another EF-1 tornado in Woodstock with winds reaching 100 mph.
Earlier this spring, an EF-1 tornado struck Williamstown on April 16 with estimated winds of 90 mph.
This week’s Climate Chronicles question comes from Kate:
With severe weather last week, how often do we actually see tornadoes touch down in Maine?
Maine tornado activity (WGME).
Historically, Maine averages about two tornadoes each year, with most occurring between June and August.
Most storms develop during the late afternoon and early evening, typically between 3 and 9 p.m., when hours of sunshine have heated the ground and created the instability needed for thunderstorms to form.
The last confirmed tornado to touch down in Maine was in 2023.
Average amount of tornadoes that touch down in each New England state per year (WGME).
Massachusetts and Connecticut also average about two tornadoes per year, with many occurring across the flatter terrain of western portions of both states.
In Massachusetts, the broad Connecticut River Valley stretching through Springfield has earned the nickname “New England’s Tornado Alley” due to its history of tornado activity.
Vermont, on the other hand, typically averages just one tornado annually. With three confirmed tornadoes already in 2026, the state has already exceeded its yearly average by two, making this an unusually active year for tornadoes in the Green Mountain State.
Maine’s tornado history (GoSanAngelo, WGME).
Since 1950, Maine has recorded 140 tornadoes. None have been rated stronger than an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the system used to classify tornado intensity based on the damage they cause.
Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes are not assigned ratings while they are occurring. Instead, National Weather Service survey teams assess damage after the storm has passed, examining impacts to homes, buildings, trees, and other structures.
From that damage, meteorologists estimate the tornado’s wind speeds and assign an EF rating ranging from EF0 to EF5.
While Maine has experienced its share of tornadoes over the decades, the state has never recorded a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado.
Do you have any weather questions? Email our Weather Authority team at weather@wgme.com. We’d love to hear from you!
PORTLAND — Perhaps the June Swoon is over for the Portland Hearts of Pine.
A flurry of second-half activity Wednesday night resulted in four goals and a much-needed 5-1 USL League One victory against the Richmond Kickers that had fans buzzing with feel-good frenzy at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Ollie Wright scored the go-ahead goal on a header off a great cross from Jaden Jones-Reilly in the 57th minute. In short order, Konstantinos Georgallides and Aboubacar Camara each added a goal, and then Camara got a second late in extra time.
Diego Gonzalez, playing his third game with Portland, added friskiness to the midfield and opened the scoring with a header in the first half. He also assisted on Camara’s first goal with a slick through pass.
Portland had lost four straight games, including three in a row in USL1. The Hearts are now 4-5-5 in league play and moved from 13th to 10th in the 17-team league, just three points out of the eight-team playoff picture.
It was a dramatic reversal from Portland’s most recent game, a 5-1 loss at Westchester SC on Friday that was shown live back in Portland at an open-air setting in Monument Square.
PREVIOUSLY IN JUNE
When the month of May ended with a gritty home win against Spokane, Portland was 3-2-4 in league play and overcoming injuries.
June has not been as kind. Portland entered Wednesday’s game on a four-game losing streak. Digging into the numbers, the skid looked even worse.
It was the first time the Hearts had lost four straight games in their brief year-and-a-half history. They were outscored 15-5 in that stretch, and 15-3 starting with the two extra-time goals they allowed in a 3-2 loss at Corpus Christi.
Portland had also lost three straight against USL League One games for the first time.
Two of the four losses were ugly 5-1 affairs. Portland didn’t lose by more than three goals and had just four losses by two or more goals in 2025.
RETURNS AND NOTES
Portland was glad to have Mikey Lopez back on the game-day roster. Lopez, who had bene out more than month because of an injury, entered as a 75th-minute sub with Portland leading 4-1. … Sean Vinberg, one of Portland’s primary starting center backs in 2025, became the second former Hearts player to return to Fitzpatrick, wearing the captain’s band for Richmond. Vinberg was released at the end of the 2025 season. He made 33 starts for Portland, second most on the team. … Maine Gatorade High School Soccer Players of the Year Finn Coburn (Scarborough) and Noelle Mallory (Cape Elizabeth) handled the honorary coin toss before the match.
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