cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/35081909
Democrats hope to recruit Governor Janet Mills to challenge the powerful Republican senator, but an oyster farmer with a working man’s pitch thinks he has a better chance.
Annie Karni
Aug. 19, 2025Enter Graham Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and former Marine who served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and is set on Tuesday to announce a long-shot challenge to Ms. Collins, with a campaign focused on making life better for his state’s working class.
A competitive pistol shooter who worked as a bartender at the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill while attending George Washington University on the G.I. Bill, he said that “everyone knows we live in a system that is not built to represent working-class people.”
Mr. Platner said he had been approached in the past to run for local office, and had always turned it down. But when a group of labor unions focused on climate issues reached out to him about running for Senate, Mr. Platner found himself open to the idea.
Can tell he’s a progressive because his name isn’t in the headline.
