Now that Graham Platner is officially the Democratic Party’s chosen candidate to face Sen.Maine Republican Sen.
Susan Collins this November, his campaign staff and the far-left establishment that back him will undoubtedly spend the next five months trying to contain the fallout from his personal history.They will ask voters to look past the domestic abuse allegations, the rhetoric glorifying political violence, the racially charged comments and the Nazi tattoo.They will argue that those controversies are distractions and urge Mainers to focus instead on the issues facing our state.As a Republican serving in the Maine House, I wholeheartedly agree.Because when Mainers look beyond the colorful Platner headlines and turn their focus to his policies, they will find an extreme version of the same progressive agenda that has already made life harder for working families across our state.GOP LAWMAKER WARNS VOTERS THAT PLATNER'S 'EXTREME' POLICIES JUST AS CONCERNING AS HIS BAGGAGE: 'STAY AWAY'Sen.
Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner stand together during a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine, on May 24, 2026.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)The past eight years of Democrat leadership in the capital of Augusta have created a cost-of-living crisis where nearly half of Mainers struggle to make ends meet.
In just eight years, the state budget has nearly doubled from $6.7 billion to $12 billion while Mainers have been hit with 32 new or higher taxes and fees to pay for it.Platner’s answer to the rising cost of living is even more taxes.And not just one or two targeted increases.
No, his plan includes an entire platform built around new wealth taxes, higher taxes on investment income, expanded payroll taxes, new federally funded programs and a dramatically larger role for Washington in managing the economy.As wealth flees the state under this oppressive tax model, more middl...