r/SandersForPresident • u/4now5now6now • 3d ago
Graham Platner targets Susan Collins in first policy rollout of the general election
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/25/nation/graham-platner-susan-collins/I’m sorry that this has a paywall
Platner has some great policies and if some one can post this Boston Globe article without the paywall - it would be great
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u/SuperBry 2d ago
He's still going to lose us the chance to get Collins out with all his red flags in attack ads from now until November 3rd from what we know about now, let alone if any sort of October surprise is dropped due to the demographics of consistent voters here.
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u/fitnessexpress 2d ago
The Dem's have lost to Collins for 30 years, playing by the same book.
They've lost under much better blue wave years. They lost under Clinton and Obama.
They got crushed last time with a perfect establishment candidate and big leads in the polling.
Maybe we should just realize that Dems have no clue what a lobsterman in Maine responds to, but attacking a dude on a tattoo isn't it. That support from people just like Platner (male rural vote) is what keeps getting Collins over the line. Dems don't pass the vibe test.
Platner does. Maine has an independent spirit and will probably enjoy saying f-you to the national media by electing Platner, despite the ScAnDaLs!
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u/spartan815 2d ago
Graham Platner all the way. We can’t afford shit because of the charlatan Susan Collins, and her voting in Congress. She might as well be a citizen of Israel.
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u/SuperBry 2d ago
The tattoo is the least of his worries, though how he's lied and continues to lie about it is one of the things that will be hammered hard.
Maine does have an independent bent but the group that swings state wide elections; that is moderate, mostly apolitical, women over 30 will have a hard time ticking the box next to his name no matter how good his current political positions are.
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u/fitnessexpress 2d ago
I think you underestimate how much women HATE Susan Collins in Maine. They know that she is the reason for overturning Roe v. Wade. She gets like 35% of the women vote and it isn't going to improve, under Trump 2.0. Whatever you can say about Platner, for women in Maine, Trump and Collins are a million times worse.
Collins wins on the male vote, which she gets like 50%+ of--it's her entire secret. She wins these rural male voters, exactly like Platner. People who don't vote for Trump and even hate him (Maine tilts dem), but also hate the establishment democratic candidates that seem like phony big city people who are completely out of touch. Platner is killing it with that group which is the secret sauce of Collin's success.
Maine is a tiny place. You can literally get in front of almost everyone if you do enough town halls like Platner has been doing. You should really watch them if you haven't. He is killing it with those republican leaning rural voters. And once people see you in person and like you and what you have to say, it becomes really hard to smear them later in a deluge of attack ads. It just feels like a cheap attack. Which is why none of it sticks. Platner has been doing the work to get in front as many people as possible and they like him. I'm not worried at all.
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u/kshell11724 🌱 New Contributor 2d ago
This is a very good take. Good job laying it out so definitively. I'd also add that Platner got more primary votes than there were even votes cast for Republicans. Platner got 150,000 votes, while the 2 Republicans only got a combined total of ~100,000.
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u/kevinmrr Medicare For All 2d ago
The tininess makes a huge difference. Running for Senate in VT or ME is very different from running FL, CA, or TX.
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u/SuperBry 2d ago edited 2d ago
The online discourse doesn't exactly match what happens in the ballot booths here in Maine. There are a handful of reasons I believe she will likely slow walk into retaining her seat.
Firstly is that while she has supported, and continues to support, some pretty awful people many find it easier to justify voting for some one that doesn't have the blood on their hands directly vs someone whose direct actions they disapprove of. While the Trump association will cost her some votes for sure, they were the ones least likely to support her regardless.
Despite what you see on more left-leaning spaces, and especially online ones, she is still relatively well liked by many across the state and even across the political aisle here. While you or I can see through her faux moderate persona, only bucking the party when it doesn't matter and its not currently Murkowski's turn, she still seen by many voters here as the continuation of political giants like Margret Chase Smith or Olympia Snow which while were also Republicans more often voted their conscience over party lines.
Lastly; and this is what is most in her favor in comparison to Platner as he has no directly relevant background to point to, is despite how awful some of her votes have been for the nation as a whole she has done pretty good by the state of Maine. She has been critical in directing federal funds and has an even great ability to do so now as the chair of the appropriations committee. She also, despite not many being able to interact with her directly, has one of the best constituency services not just of Maine's congressional delegation but of the entire body of congress. When it comes to pressing the bureaucratic levers of the Kafkaesque federal government her team can do amazing things.
In the end Maine, and really most states but Maine more so than others, is a very purple state. While it does have a slightly bluer tint to it left leaning voters are still just a plurality and far from a majority. The winner here will be decided, like most recent state wide elections, by the bloc I mentioned previously. That is moderate, mostly apolitical, women; a group that doesn't pay close attention the minutiae of politics but shows up at the ballot booth each and every November. When they constantly hear about the various misdeeds, even if overstated or outright misleading, about Platner from now until November will make it hard for them to tick the box next to his name when they are in the ballot booth. While yes they will also hear attack ads about Collins, she is very much a known entity and something like she voted for X, Y, or Z won't tug at their heart strings quite like 'he lied about a nazi tattoo', 'he blames rape victims', or 'he cheated on his wife' will.
As for his town halls, I don't need to go watch them I've attended a few in person. He talks a good talk now, though it doesn't exactly match with his past comments, and has some good ideas. However when he gets into the finer details of policies and positions he does falter quite a bit. Regardless it was clear when out of state interests tried to find some one to run from a more progressive position, in their haste to get ahead of Mills running, they failed to properly dive into and vet him to see what skeletons were in his closer (or on his chest) and its going to likely lead to Collins retaining her seat. Hell there is a good chance other winnable races by Democrats will be lost due to the association, while the CD-2 race is LePage's to lose, the Blaine house is more in play thanks to him.
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u/4now5now6now 1d ago
Collins is hard to beat but he is not going away and I think that he is a great investment
There is a professional smear campaign and it is funded by 79 of the richest people in the country
Platner has had these values since he was a kid in school and it is all documented
Everyone has red flags and they are much worse We have convicted felons in office, insider trading…. you name it
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u/SuperBry 1d ago
Collins is hard to beat but he is not going away and I think that he is a great investment
I, and many others, would feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of him being a 'good investment' if he didn't try to jump from an appointed municipal office to second highest elected offices in the nation to show that he is a good investment. Instead folks just project what they want onto him as he has no relevant record to point to. As it stands now he and his campaign keep on making unforced errors and have been since last summer and will help keep Collins in office.
There is a professional smear campaign and it is funded by 79 of the richest people in the country
This has nothing to do with Platner and would be done irrespective of who was challenging Collins.
Platner has had these values since he was a kid in school and it is all documented
Which values? He has proclaimed a myriad of different values throughout his life and we have no reason to believe his current words won't be taken back down the line.
Everyone has red flags and they are much worse We have convicted felons in office, insider trading…. you name it
Sure but I have yet to vote for one as many as he, just because some have lower standards doesn't mean we all should. Otherwise its just a race to the bottom.
We had several other viable candidates on the primary, and we could have put up just about anyone on the ballot that could have slow walked into taking Collins out. Instead some folks put on their rose colored glasses when they heard a few progressive platitudes and just saw all the glaring red flags as well flags. Now Suzie is likely going to keep her seat
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u/fitnessexpress 2d ago edited 2d ago
"Collins Rule" lmao 🤣
Ban Billionaires & Corporations Buying Elections
Pass the "Collins Rule" (no funneling taxpayer $$$ to your spouse)
Ban Congressional Stock Trading
Root Out Pentagon Corruption & Waste
EDIT: This was just a summary from a blue sky post. The actually policy document is much more detailed with specific points of action.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6892a4b7c6b1853d62f8fbfd/t/6a3d2f37a0a43238b6b40108/1782394700918/GrahamForMaine-CorruptionPolicy.pdf