Inside Graham Platner’s Controversial Rise

Time: “Platner’s story feels a lot like a pat movie plot: With Democratic voters yearning for outsiders to shake up the system, along comes a rough-hewn, gravelly voiced Marine Corps veteran from Sullivan, Maine—pop. 1,300—as their new national star. He barnstorms the state with a -pugilistic brand of economic populism, building a following so quickly that he forces his central-casting opponent, the two-term Democratic governor, Janet Mills, out of the race before voters can cast a ballot. Even in this antiestablishment, unabashedly ageist political moment, Platner’s rise has been remarkable…After decades of nominating buttoned-up technocrats with glittering résumés, many Democrats want candidates with flaws, faded ink, and redemption arcs that resemble their own. Platner’s past, in other words, may actually be his path.”

“The election this fall may come down to which version of Platner voters think is real: the man with the tattoo and Reddit posts, or the one who channeled his frustrations into a vision for change… He doesn’t want to join the Senate to be part of a system. He wants to rip that system apart and build a better one. But that, he acknowledges, requires a leap of faith for voters to believe that he won’t betray their values and has truly transformed.”