In a surprising twist, the wife of Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, Amy Gertner, revealed to his campaign in 2025 about sexually explicit messages that he had sent to other women. Platner has been wedded to Gertner since November 2023, and the revelation was made during a vetting process at the onset of his campaign last year. The information about the texts was initially brought to light by the Wall Street Journal.
In a video shared on social media platforms by Platner’s campaign, Gertner openly addressed the issue. “I just really wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Graham and I have a great marriage,” she said. She went on to elaborate on the complexities of marriage and the additional challenges they have faced, “Being married is hard,” she continued. “Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard. Being newly married, going through infertility and a Senate campaign is hard. I don’t even know if I have the right words to describe what we’ve been going through, but our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham’s personal counselor helps and we work on our mental health every day. No marriage is perfect.”
In a statement shared by the Platner campaign, Gertner divulged that they had sought counseling and that their marriage today “is stronger than ever before.” She expressed her unwavering faith in her husband, stating, “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.”
She also mentioned that she had confided “deeply personal details about my marriage” to an unidentified campaign staffer. “I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind — and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy,” Gertner expressed.
Platner has also given his statement regarding the situation, and in it, he acknowledged the hardship they encountered, mainly due to his actions. “Amy and I went through something hard — because of me. We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day,” he said. He went on to emphasize that his campaign is focused on serving the people and their needs rather than getting caught up in gossip or sensational headlines. “What I’ve learned throughout this campaign is that people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids. This campaign is about the ideas that will move Maine forward and past a broken politics of the past. Our opponents want politics to be empty of content and empty of actual change — and beating that is exactly what our movement is about,” he added.
Platner has also denied certain aspects of the reportage from other media outlets. He told local reporters that the statement given by his campaign’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, to the New York Times was “not true.” He further clarified that the messages do exist, but the claims made by McDonald about them were not accurate. “We talked about things in Amy and I’s marriage that we’ve gone through over the years. We talked about that, because that’s our marriage. And we discussed it with the campaign. What Genevieve McDonald claims isn’t true,” he said.
A campaign official, whose name was not revealed, confirmed to CBS News that the messages do exist. “Graham isn’t saying the texts to other women at the start of the marriage are not real. They are,” the official told CBS News. “He’s frustrated by the sensationalization of several private facts relayed by a former confidante to journalists.”
Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, has been in the limelight for his political career as well as his personal life. As he is the presumptive Democratic nominee, he is expected to contest against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the upcoming November midterm elections. His main Democratic primary opponent, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out of the race in April. Platner’s campaign has not been without controversy; he has come under scrutiny for several problematic internet comments he made and for a tattoo he got during his time in the Marines that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. He later covered the tattoo up.
The result of the Maine Senate race is critical in determining the party that will control the chamber after the midterms. Platner has received endorsement and campaigned with progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He has been running a campaign centered around his working-class background.
In an April interview with CBS News’ Major Garrett on “The Takeout,” Platner addressed the controversial opinions he had aired previously, attributing them to post-traumatic stress disorder as well as his time serving in what he described as “a hyper-masculine, hyper-violent place.” He confessed, “We have a crude sense of humor in the infantry. We certainly have a, I would say, narrow view of a lot of topics, and that colored my opinions and my beliefs.” He went on to explain how his opinions have evolved over the years, “Over the years in between, I met a lot more people, had a lot more experiences, learned a lot more about the world. And my opinions have changed with it.”
As the electoral battle heats up, it remains to be seen how the revelation of Platner’s past actions and the subsequent discourse will influence his campaign and the voters’ perception. Regardless of the personal challenges and controversies, Platner continues to focus on his political agenda and the needs of the people, emphasizing the importance of moving Maine forward from the broken politics of the past.
