Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner’s Wife Flagged ‘Sexually Explicit Texts’ He Sent to Other Women: Report

 

(Christian Science Monitor via AP)

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D), who’s been under fire for his now-covered Nazi-coded tattoo and problematic Reddit posts, was reportedly caught sexting other women, according to his wife.

Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, revealed the texts to campaign officials just days after he declared his Senate candidacy, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

“Amy Gertner, who married Platner in 2024, told the campaign about messages she had found early in their marriage in the spring of 2025,” the report reads. “In late August, as some aides were conducting opposition research on their own candidate, Gertner disclosed the texts to a campaign aide to make sure they didn’t pose a risk to her husband’s nascent campaign,” anonymous sources told the Journal.

The disclosure came as the campaign was preparing for last year’s Labor Day weekend rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I).

Platner’s campaign ultimately decided the texts were a “private matter” and that the couple was working through the issue in marriage counseling, the report said.

In a statement to the Journal, Gertner said she and her husband “did the hard work that marriage requires.”

“We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before,” she said in the statement.

She added, “I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t.”

Platner, who had a skull and crossbones tattoo for 18 years that resembled the Nazi Totenkopf, recently had it covered up when it became a political liability. Platner has said he had no idea what the tattoo was when he got it.

He has apologized for his past Reddit posts, calling them “stupid joke comments,” and blamed his poor judgment on mental health struggles following combat assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Platner faces David Costello in the Democratic primary on June 9, following the withdrawal of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) from the contest. The winner will take on five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

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