Inside the Graham Platner Campaign Collapse

“Late last week, the rumors reached a fever pitch. Graham Platner, the Marine Corps veteran and oysterman who mounted a quixotic bid for the U.S. Senate in Maine, was used to controversy—headlines had been bad enough already, and his campaign aides spent much of their time dealing with lurid rumors. That there was a sex tape on the verge of leaking. That notes from his therapist were floating around,” Vanity Fair reports.

“On Friday, as fresh rumors of serious misconduct began to swirl, Morris Katz, one of Platner’s top strategists, took the first step toward ending the turbulent campaign. Fearing the worst, he contacted several pollsters to commission surveys for alternative candidates. Platner’s advisers, meanwhile, questioned the candidate directly on what they were hearing.

Said one: “We continued to ask Graham for the billionth time in this race if there was any information he had not shared. He continued to say no.”