“Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign manager is stepping down from his position,” Axios reports.

“Kevin Brown, a longtime friend of Platner’s who started as campaign manager last week, is leaving his role… Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, also previously departed the campaign.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) has taken the lead over Democratic primary challenger Graham Platner in the 2026 Senate race, 41% to 36%, according to a SoCal Strategies Maine Poll.

Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) talked to The Atlantic about his controversial tattoo.

“He told me that after he got the tattoo, he had two full-body screenings for tattoos as a requirement for government work, including screening for ‘hate’ tattoos, in both the Army and as part of his State Department work, and that the skull was not flagged either time. He told me that members of his family are Jewish, and that he has had his shirt off around them many times without anyone objecting to the tattoo.”

Said Platner: “Eighteen years. It’s never come up.”

A new University of New Hampshire poll in Maine finds Graham Platner (D) leads Gov. Janet Mills (D) in the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate nomination, 58% to 24%.

Platner’s lead is fueled by self-described socialists and progressives along with young people.

Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D), who has already apologized for earlier misogynistic and racially insensitive remarks and said he did not realize that a tattoo on his chest resembled a Nazi SS emblem, is again under scrutiny, this time for anti-LGBTQ+ comments, the Advocate reports.

Platner confirmed that he authored a series of Reddit comments that include homophobic slurs, anti-LGBTQ+ jokes, and sexually explicit stories denigrating gay men.

Said Platner: “It’s indefensible.”

“His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol,” the AP reports.

“I am not a secret Nazi.”

— Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D), quoted by Jewish Insider, after after photos of his tattoo emerge.

Graham Platner, the embattled Maine Democratic Senate candidate, said he doesn’t expect more damaging stories to come out about his social media history, even as he invited opponents to “go find more stuff” if they can, Politico reports.

Said Platner: “There is nothing that I can remotely think of that is out there that is any worse, or really any different, than what has come out. I mean, if that is their concern, then they can go find more stuff.”

“The political director for Graham Platner’s U.S. Senate campaign resigned Friday after Platner’s past online posts featuring numerous controversial remarks resurfaced this week,” the Bangor Daily News reports.

In Reddit posts from 2013, Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggested people concerned about being raped shouldn’t be inebriated around people they don’t feel comfortable with, the Bangor Daily News reports.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports Platner “responded dismissively to a cartoon about sexual assault in the military.”

“Graham Platner, who is running as an insurgent Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, once suggested in online posts that violence is a necessary means to achieving social change – comments now drawing scrutiny in an era of increased political violence,” Politico reports.

Graham Platner, a Marine veteran turned oyster farmer who is now a rising Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, once called himself a “communist,” dismissed “all” police as bastards, and said rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, according to deleted social media posts reviewed by CNN.

Maine oyster farmer Graham Platner (D) criticized Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) as business as usual in the first candidate TV ad of the state’s marquee Senate race, Axios reports.

Says an older woman in the ad: “Janet Mills again? She was a good governor, but I think it’s time for change.”

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Gov. Janet Mills (D) entered the Maine Senate race on Tuesday morning, giving Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) a more proven potential challenger even as other Democrats are seeking the nomination.”

“We are moving the Maine Senate race from Leans Republican to Toss-up, which means we now have four Senate Toss-ups: Republican-held Maine and North Carolina and Democratic-held Georgia and Michigan.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “Maine is the most important Senate race in the country. Democrats have a narrow path to a majority, but they have no path if they cannot defeat Susan Collins in a state Kamala Harris won by seven points last year. Collins is the last Republican representing a truly blue state.”

“Losing Maine wouldn’t just hurt Democrats in the near term; it would make it much less likely that a new Democratic president would have a Senate majority in 2029. The Senate map is so biased toward Republicans that we simply cannot afford to lose a single winnable seat.”

“The high stakes really make me wonder what the hell Senate Democrats are doing in Maine.”

“Senate Democrats are warming up to an upstart oyster farmer in the crucial Maine Senate race. Now they’ll have to decide if they are willing to snub their party’s dream recruit to support him,” Politico reports.

“So far, Graham Platner only has one public endorsement from a sitting senator, Vermont independent Bernie Sanders. But more than a half-dozen Democratic senators sang his praises in interviews this week, even as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer grows closer to landing his top recruiting target to run against Sen. Susan Collins — not Platner, but Gov. Janet Mills.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is preparing as soon as next week to announce her campaign for the U.S. Senate, Axios reports.

“An announcement from Mills, a two-term popular governor, would mark another recruiting victory for Democratic leaders. But it also would set off another complicated Democratic primary pitting the party’s establishment and progressive wings against each other.”

Playbook: “Aides say more than 800 people turned up for Oyster farmer Graham Platner’s first town hall in Maine last night (here’s a pic). Platner, an Iraq war veteran, is running an insurgent grassroots campaign to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins, which threatens to disrupt national Democrats’ efforts to recruit and unite around Gov. Janet Mills.”