Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, said she remains on the ballot in the state’s U.S. Senate primary on June 9, despite suspending her campaign on April 30 over financial constraints. Her comments come as Democratic candidate Graham Platner faces mounting scrutiny over allegations he sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women.
Mills’ reminder that she is still technically in the race injects new uncertainty into a Democratic primary that many had viewed as settled. Before stepping back, Mills had been seen as a top Democratic recruit to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins, but she struggled to compete with Platner in both fundraising and polling.
Maine is considered one of Democrats’ strongest opportunities to flip a Republican-held Senate seat in 2026. The contest is consequential, with the potential to help determine control of the Senate.
Newsweek reached out to Mills and Platner on Monday.
Voters Have Mills Option
Despite suspending her campaign activity, Mills has not filed the formal paperwork required to withdraw, leaving her name printed on ballots.
“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’” Mills told Portland Press Herald columnist Steve Collins on Sunday. “But I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.”
State election officials have said that any votes she receives will still be counted under Maine law.
When Mills suspended her Senate campaign, she said that she lacked the financial resources needed to compete in a modern statewide race. An Emerson College poll in March showed she had support from 28 percent of likely Democratic voters in Maine, compared with 55 percent for Platner.
Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer, rose rapidly in the Democratic primary, building an enthusiastic grassroots following as an anti-establishment candidate focused on economic populism. Platner also won endorsements from progressive national figures, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Mills, a two-term governor and establishment favorite, trailed Platner in polling and fundraising as his outsider message gained traction with many Democratic primary voters.
Platner’s Texting Scandal
Reports surfaced over the weekend that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told a senior campaign aide, Genevieve McDonald, that he had sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women during their marriage. Gertner reportedly revealed that information in an internal vetting exercise in late August 2025, just days after Platner announced his candidacy.
McDonald told The New York Times that the number of women could be “as many as a dozen,” while a current campaign official claimed it was closer to six, adding the behavior stopped before the campaign launched. According to the Wall Street Journal, Platner utilized an active profile on the messaging app Kik under the handle “phustle0331,” featuring a shirtless mirror selfie that displayed tattoos matching his own.
McDonald confirmed the reporting to Newsweek in a text message Sunday. She wrote: “I can confirm the details of what has been reported and what Graham Platner’s campaign has already admitted to on the record, that he was sexting multiple women while married and that the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability when his wife brought it to the campaign’s attention.”
Platner addressed the reports in a statement, saying he and his wife had worked through the issue and arguing voters are more concerned with health care, wages, and economic issues. His wife, in a video posted by the campaign, defended her husband and said the couple had addressed the matter through counseling.
Sanders also defended Platner, telling the Associated Press on Monday that the country should “focus on issues more important than the Platner marriage.”
Other Platner Controversies
McDonald resigned from Platner’s campaign in October 2025 after offensive Reddit posts resurfaced, saying she had been unaware of them and could not remain once they became public. The posts included racially charged remarks, comments critics said blamed victims in discussions of sexual assault, and other inflammatory rhetoric about politics and the military.
Platner also faced backlash over a skull-and-crossbones chest tattoo that critics said resembled the Nazi SS “Totenkopf” symbol; Platner said he was unaware of its meaning when he got it while serving in the Marines and later covered it up after the controversy emerged.
“Revelations about Platner’s past are relevant, however, because he has no public record,” the columnist Collins wrote on Monday. “Before he jumped from obscurity into the Senate race last summer, his political experience was nil. His character remains a mystery…That’s why I suspect Gov. Janet Mills…is going to get a lot of votes in next week’s primary.”
Prediction markets, however, suggest Platner will still prevail. On May 29, Kalshi gave Platner a 97.8 percent implied chance of winning the Democratic primary. By Monday evening, that figure was at 96 percent. Mills went from 0.8 percent to 4.6 percent in the same time span.
The odds on Polymarket were similar.
A University of New Hampshire poll conducted May 21-25, before the texting revelations, showed Platner at 76 percent and Mills at 10 percent (despite having suspended her campaign weeks earlier) among likely Democratic primary voters.
What Happens Next
Maine voters will cast ballots in the Democratic primary on June 9, with early voting already underway. In the final days before Election Day, attention is expected to center on how voters react to the allegations involving Platner and whether any late-breaking shifts in support alter the trajectory of a race that appeared largely decided after Mills stepped aside.
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