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Hard Left Candidate Surges in Maine Senate Race

Graham Platner (Sophie Park/Getty Images)

George Caldwell / @GCaldwell_news

George Caldwell is a correspondent for The Daily Signal. Send an email to George.

Graham Platner, a hard-left Democrat who has accused Israel of “genocide” and called for Medicare for all, leads every candidate in a new poll for Maine’s 2026 Senate race.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins is seeking reelection and has two major challengers in the Democrat Senate primary: Platner and Gov. Janet Mills.

In new polling from Emerson College, Platner leads Mills by a 27-point margin, 55 % to 28%, with 13% undecided.

The race is closely watched as Democrats must win four additional Senate seats to gain control of the chamber.

Graham Platner is convinced attack ads on his inflammatory posts won’t hurt him — despite D fears about electability “Getting in fights on the Internet was something that I did then”Also says they should defund Iran war, Trump should be impeached, US should stop aid to Israel pic.twitter.com/GQXUVcO3fF— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 22, 2026

Graham Platner is convinced attack ads on his inflammatory posts won’t hurt him — despite D fears about electability “Getting in fights on the Internet was something that I did then”Also says they should defund Iran war, Trump should be impeached, US should stop aid to Israel pic.twitter.com/GQXUVcO3fF

The survey, which polled 530 likely Democratic primary voters from March 21-23, has a 4.2% margin of error.

Mills, 78, has served as Maine’s governor since 2019. Platner, 41, operates an oyster farm and has presented himself as a political outsider.

“I’m not afraid to name an enemy. And the enemy is the oligarchy,” Platner said in his campaign launch video. “It’s the billionaires who pay for it, and the politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins.”

Mills has run attack ads against Platner over reports of his past online posts that women should “act like an adult” to avoid rape and ridiculing rural white voters and black people.

She also attacked him for having a tattoo of a Nazi symbol. Platner claimed to have been unaware of the historical associations of the tattoo he once had, which resembled the German “Totenkopf” symbol associated with the Nazi SS.

Platner has asked voters to look past his online history, saying, “I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago.”

Platner has branded himself as an anti-establishment Democrat, blasting Senate Democrats for acceding to Republicans in previous shutdown fights.

His campaign has employed strategist Morris Katz, who assisted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign.

Platner up w a response ad to Mills attack in #MESen.“Maine, I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years.”He’s putting more points on air this week; Mills buy is $87k in Portland market, Pratner at $350k in Portland. pic.twitter.com/moq9mFTCsg— David Weigel (@daveweigel) March 18, 2026

Platner up w a response ad to Mills attack in #MESen.“Maine, I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years.”He’s putting more points on air this week; Mills buy is $87k in Portland market, Pratner at $350k in Portland. pic.twitter.com/moq9mFTCsg

Both Democrats have single digit leads when matched head to head with Collins.

Platner bests Collins 48% to 41% in a hypothetical matchup, with 12% saying “other” or undecided. Meanwhile, Mills bests Collins 46% to 43%, with 11% saying “other” or undecided.

This survey of hypothetical matchups was conducted from March 21-23 with 1,075 likely Maine voters polled. It has a 2.9% margin of error.

Collins has a history of outperforming the polls. In her 2020 campaign, she trailed her Democrat opponent in every single public poll, and by double digits in some polls. She ultimately won the race by almost eight points.

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