Sen. Elizabeth Warren traveled to Maine over the weekend to help boost Graham Platner as he fights for the Democratic nomination and a shot at Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. Warren spoke at Platner’s campaign rally in Portland on Saturday and made clear she sees him as the kind of candidate Democrats need.
“Graham is a combat veteran. He’s an oyster farmer, he is an organizer, and he is the person who is going to beat Susan Collins,” Warren said, calling Platner her “kind of man.” The Massachusetts Democrat also said she first took notice of him in an interview in which he argued the system was “rigged” after the 2008 financial crash because no bankers were jailed.
The visit puts Warren, one of President Donald Trump’s most relentless critics, squarely in Platner’s corner at a moment when Maine Democrats are deciding whether to go with a political outsider or a party-backed veteran. Platner is running in the June 9 primary against two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the winner will face Collins in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched Senate races of the year.
Warren’s appearance also highlighted the divide inside the race. She praised Platner as someone who can take on Washington, saying, “Insiders who go along to get along are not going to hose the corruption out of Washington. We need Graham Platner to come in and get the corruption out of Washington,” and adding that when a system is this broken and billionaires have this much control, “it is time for big, structural change.”
But Platner’s campaign has been shadowed by a series of past controversies. He has faced criticism over decade-old Reddit posts in which he appeared to blame sexual assault victims and defended Hamas military moves in some 2013 and 2014 messages. He also came under fire for a chest tattoo that was recognized as a Nazi symbol, later apologized for it and covered it.
In a 2025 apology video, Platner said, “For those of you who have read these things and been offended, have read these things and seen someone that you don’t recognize, I am deeply sorry,” a statement that did not end the scrutiny but did mark his effort to answer it directly. Warren’s endorsement suggests she is betting that his biography and anti-establishment pitch will matter more to Maine primary voters than the baggage that has followed him into the final stretch before June 9.