On the eve of Labor Day weekend in 2025, Maine’s political landscape was jolted by a double dose of insurgency and controversy, as Senator Bernie Sanders broke ranks with Democratic Party insiders to endorse Graham Platner, a populist oyster farmer and Marine veteran, in his bid to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins. At the same time, Sanders ignited a national health debate by calling for the resignation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of undermining public trust in vaccines and endangering millions of Americans.
Sanders’ endorsement of Platner, announced on August 30, marked a striking departure from the Democratic establishment’s preference for Governor Janet Mills, who, at 77, is still weighing a Senate run. According to Rolling Stone and The Independent, Platner’s campaign has become a grassroots sensation, raising $1 million and recruiting 3,000 volunteers in just ten days—a testament to the hunger for fresh faces and bold rhetoric in Maine politics. “Graham is a Marine and Army National Guard veteran, an oyster farmer, and a proud member of America’s working class,” Sanders wrote in his endorsement. “He’s a Mainer through and through, and he is building a movement strong enough to take on the oligarchy that is making Maine unaffordable for all except a privileged few.”
Platner, 40, has no prior political experience but has quickly built a reputation as an unfiltered champion of working-class Mainers and a sharp critic of both Republican and Democratic leadership. On X, he declared, “Nothing pisses me off more than getting a fundraising text from Democrats talking about how they’re fighting fascism…Because it’s such bullshit. We’re not idiots. Everyone knows most of them aren’t doing jack shit right now to fight back.” He’s also been outspoken about issues ranging from universal health care to what he calls “a genocide happening in Palestine,” positioning himself as a candidate willing to say what others won’t.
Platner’s campaign, which he describes as being “for the working Mainer, foe of the oligarchy,” has captured the imagination of voters frustrated with rising inequality and political gridlock. As he wrote on X, “Together we’re going to defeat Susan Collins and take back our government for the people.” His brash style—he once posted a high school yearbook photo labeled “Most Likely to Start a Revolution”—has only fueled his outsider mystique.
The Sanders-Platner alliance will take center stage at a Labor Day rally in Portland, Maine, alongside logger-turned-gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson. The event’s venue had to be upgraded from an auditorium to a much larger arena due to surging interest, Rolling Stone reported. The groundswell behind Platner has already eclipsed efforts by establishment Democrats to persuade Governor Mills to run. Mills, for her part, told the Portland Press Herald she is “seriously considering” a Senate campaign but is “not in any rush to make a decision.”
The incumbent, Susan Collins, finds herself in unfamiliar territory. Once considered a moderate bulwark in the Senate, Collins’ approval rating has plummeted to 38 percent, according to a July poll cited by The Independent. Her reputation for deliberation and bipartisanship has taken a hit as she’s faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. Liberals and conservatives alike have grown weary of her “concerned” statements, which often precede votes aligning with the Trump administration.
Collins’ record is a study in contrasts. She voted to convict Donald Trump after January 6, endorsed Nikki Haley in 2024, and opposed the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Yet she also confirmed Trump’s controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary, and backed Trump’s budget director Russell Vought, known for his hardline stance on government workers. More recently, she criticized the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez and objected to Kennedy’s removal of the entire CDC vaccine advisory committee, calling it “a bad mistake.”
Public frustration with Collins has spilled into the streets. Earlier in the week, she was met by about 200 protesters at a ribbon-cutting in a small coastal town, some chanting “shame” and “stop funding genocide,” according to Rolling Stone. More protests followed during a visit to a local food bank, underscoring the intensity of anti-incumbent sentiment. “Our concern is that she hasn’t had a town hall in 20 years, she’s not talking to her constituents, she’s supporting a fascist government,” local activist Jessica Mahnae told WGME.
Meanwhile, Sanders’ focus has not been limited to Maine’s Senate race. On the same day he endorsed Platner, Sanders published a blistering opinion piece in The New York Times, demanding the resignation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sanders accused Kennedy—a longtime vaccine skeptic and Trump’s pick for the post—of “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future.”
Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, cited a recent shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as evidence of Kennedy’s disregard for science. Kennedy had fired CDC Director Susan Monarez less than a month into her tenure after she refused to impose new vaccine restrictions he demanded. Four senior CDC officials resigned in protest, and hundreds of CDC employees walked out in solidarity. One official claimed Kennedy’s team pressured him to “change studies that have been settled in the past” to fit Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda.
“Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,” Sanders wrote, according to Reuters. He pointed to endorsements from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, both of which call vaccines “one of the greatest public health achievements” and “the best tools to protect the public.” Sanders also cited the World Health Organization’s estimate that vaccines have saved 154 million lives over the past 50 years and cut infant deaths by 40%.
Sanders warned that Kennedy’s policies—such as scaling back COVID-19 vaccine access and cutting nearly $500 million in vaccine research—are already making it harder for Americans to get immunized, especially children. He expressed concern that Kennedy might soon target the childhood immunization schedule, risking the return of diseases like measles and polio. Sanders tied Kennedy’s actions to the Trump administration’s broader health agenda, which includes over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act—moves Sanders said could strip 15 million people of health insurance and force closures of hospitals and clinics.
For now, both the Maine Senate race and the national debate over public health are in flux, with grassroots activism and establishment caution locked in a battle for the future. As Sanders put it, “Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign.” For Maine’s voters, the choice ahead is equally stark: stick with the old guard, or bet on a revolution from the oyster beds.
