US Senate hopeful Graham Platner’s momentum continues to grow, with yet another senator bucking the Democratic Party establishment to endorse him in Maine’s June primary.
"Graham Platner is focused on delivering for Mainers, not billionaire donors,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) on Tuesday in comments reported by Politico. “And he’s exactly the person the Democratic Party needs to win back working people.”
Polls show Platner, the progressive 41-year-old Marine-turned-oyster farmer, comfortably ahead of Maine’s centrist Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for the right to challenge the state’s five-term Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November.
The seat will be an essential pickup if Democrats hope to retake the chamber in 2026.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pushed for Mills to get the nomination over Platner. This is despite polling last week from Quantus Insights, which showed Mills trailing Collins by over 1%, and Platne leading the Republican by more than 5% among likely voters.
Platner—a backer of Medicare for All and a billionaire wealth tax who has fiercely opposed aggressive US military interventions—first received the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Earlier this month, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) became the first Democratic senator to endorse Platner, in defiance of party leadership, calling him “the candidate that can win.”
Heinrich, who has emphasized the necessity of making the Democratic Party a “bigger tent” and bringing in “new" and “younger” leadership, has admired Platner’s candidacy from afar for months.
Responding to Platner’s campaign launch video, in which he declared that “the enemy is the oligarchy,” Heinrich wrote on social media in October, “We need more candidates like this.”
New Mexico’s three-term senator is now the third member of the chamber to endorse Platner, who said he was “honored” to have him as a “future colleague.”
“He’s building a movement around folks who work hard for their family and community—folks who deserve a Senator fighting in their corner,” Heinrich said. “I’m proud to endorse and help send him to the Senate in November.”
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He got the teutenkompf and wore the bolts during an era when Marine Scout Snipers and Force Recon were using a lot of Nazi iconography. He can’t be any worse than Collins, I just hope all that shit is actually behind him. He waited a long time to address his tattoo. He also has said some WILD shit on Reddit.
Fuck off, liars & cowards. I genuinely hope both parties are melted down completely —but kept around in effigy as a reminder of how absolutely heinously each of you fucked this country for a shamefully long time. Shame on us for that, yes, but fuck you all sideways. You’re done.
