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BANGOR, Maine — Republican Sen. Susan Collins believes that Graham Platner, her likely Democratic challenger in November’s midterm elections, is too extreme for voters in her New England state.
But Platner, pushing an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class, argues it’s moderate Collins who is the “radical” one.
With the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, Platner is aiming to unseat the longtime Republican senator in left-leaning Maine.
The race is among a handful that could determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in the midterm elections, and the oyster farmer has been forced onto defense in recent weeks amid mounting controversies and negative headlines.
IT’S JUDGMENT DAY FOR EMBATTLED DEMOCRAT GRAHAM PLATNER
While Collins has mostly kept quiet about Platner’s political baggage, she has weighed in on his agenda.
Among his many progressive policy stances, Platner, on his campaign website, urges “passing a constitutional amendment to ban billionaires buying elections!”
And he highlights that he’s “a strong supporter of a Medicare for All system” and that he “will support a path to citizenship and an end to the mass deportation machine.”
Asked if Platner is too far to the left for voters in her northern New England state, Collins responded in a Fox News Digital interview last month, “I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don’t take anything for granted.”
But Platner challenges that it’s Collins who is too “radical.”
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“My response is that, trying to bring down costs for working Mainers. Trying to make sure that our communities don’t get emptied out because housing has become unaffordable for young people. Trying to create a system in which we are not seeing our health care system utilized as a way of just screwing working people all for the benefit of a health care insurance CEO,” Platner responded in a Fox News Digital interview last month.
“I don’t think that’s radical at all,” he added, claiming: “I think, in fact, that what most Mainers agree is what we have to be doing.”
Rather, he claimed that “what’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars.”
“She voted to send me to Iraq, and now she continues to vote to support the war in Iran,” Platner charged. “I’m sorry that I think is much more radical to the people of Maine than having a health care system that doesn’t collapse before our eyes.”
PLATNER TO SUPPORTERS: ‘MAINE, YOU HAVE MY BACK’
Despite his numerous controversies, Platner has drawn large crowds and built a healthy fundraising war chest.
Democrats see Maine as a crucial pickup opportunity in the 2026 midterms as they aim to win back the Senate majority in the fall.
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But beating Collins, a moderate who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate and has a history of voting against President Donald Trump’s agenda, won’t be easy. Six years ago, public opinion polls indicated the senator was headed to defeat, but Collins defied expectations and won re-election by topping then-Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon by nine points.
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