Graham Platner Clinches Democratic Nomination for U.S. Senate with 72% of the Vote

On primary election day, 72 percent of Maine Democratic primary voters cast their votes for labor-endorsed oyster farmer Graham Platner of Sullivan for U.S. Senator. Platner will face six-term Republican Senator Susan Collins in the general election in November. Platner received more than 150,000 votes, more primary votes than any other Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Maine history, according to Maine Public.

Platner won nearly every one of Maine’s 483 incorporated municipalities except the tiny towns of Moose River, Hersey and Weston, where just 17 people in total voted for Democrats. For the first time, unenrolled voters were allowed to vote in partisan primaries and they broke hard for Democrats. 75 percent of absentee voters requested Democratic ballots. Governor Janet Mills received 19 percent of the vote and two-time Senate candidate David Costello garnered just 8 percent.

In his acceptance speech in front of hundreds of cheering supporters in Blue Hill, Platner thanked his 15,000 volunteers, declaring that he “will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator.”

“This is a movement about us, about the far too many working far too hard and struggling far too much at the hands of the ruling class,” said Platner. “It is not a story of my hardship. It's of our hardship. A story of the hardship of every working Mainer. People that used to be able to stern in the summertime, plow in the winter, dig clams, and be able to send your kid off to college. But you can't anymore because that hard work, it isn't enough.”

Platner’ platform includes passing a “Medicare for All,” ending foreign wars, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations, building affordable housing, increasing the federal wage, strengthening workers’ rights and immigration reform.

He strongly supports the PRO Act to strengthen collective bargaining rights, crack down on union-busting, and repeal anti-union right-to-work laws. He advocates for the use of union labor on publicly funded infrastructure projects, while also pushing to enforce the Davis-Bacon Act and mandate Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). Platner has pledged to structure his potential Senate office to directly prioritize labor unions. He believes unions should have more direct access to their senator than industry lobbyists.

He has been endorsed by several unions and labor organizations including the Maine AFL-CIO, Maine State Council of Machinists, Maine State Nurses Association, Maine State Council of Building and Construction Trades, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, UAW Maine CAP Council, LIUNA 327, IUPAT District Council 35, Teamsters 340, APWU 458, IBEW 2327 and many others.

In his speech, Platner blasted Collins for voting with President Trump 95 percent of the time, including for wars in Iran and Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served in combat. He also accused her of benefiting from her husband Tom Daffron’s government lobbying. From 2006 to 2016, Daffron served as Chief Operating Officer of Jefferson Consulting Group, which secured $60 million in federal contracts while Collins chaired or served as a senior GOP member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which oversees government contracting.

"If that's not corruption, I don't know what is,” Platner said.

Four polls this month have found Platner either leading Collins or tied with the six-term Senator. The day after the primary election, the National Senate Republican Committee released a memo stating that it was a “fatal mistake” to assume Platner is too politically damaged to win in November. It noted that Democrat Kamala Harris won Maine by 7 points in 2024 and Platner has outraised Senator Collins in every quarter since entering the race.

“Senator Collins has won tough races before and can win this one, but only if we meet this moment with total urgency,” the memo stated.

On June 11, President Donald Trump praised Susan Collins and called the oyster farmer a “thug.” Platner jokingly responded in a video that it was the highest compliment that I have ever received.”