Graham Platner, a Maine oysterman, military veteran, and first-time political candidate, has launched a U.S. Senate campaign that is already shaking up the state’s political landscape—and perhaps the national Democratic Party, too. Platner’s campaign, which began on August 19, 2025, with a viral video that has racked up millions of views, joins a new wave of populist candidates challenging both party orthodoxy and the very meaning of political labels in today’s America, according to The American Prospect.
Platner’s campaign has quickly gained momentum, recruiting over 300 new volunteers each day since his announcement. The campaign’s early success is not just in numbers; Platner is preparing for a high-profile Labor Day rally in Portland with Senator Bernie Sanders, a move that signals his intent to harness the energy of the progressive grassroots while appealing to a broader working-class base.
Platner’s candidacy comes at a time when the Democratic Party is deeply divided on nearly every front—President Biden’s legacy, Kamala Harris’s future, the party’s 2024 election loss, the New York mayoral race, and especially U.S. policy towards the war in Gaza. As The American Prospect and other outlets have reported, these divisions are not only stalling a unified response to Donald Trump’s ongoing power grabs but also fueling disillusionment among Democratic voters. The rift is so pronounced that Senator Elissa Slotkin has described it as a split between those who see Trump as an existential threat and those who see him as merely “bad, but survivable.”
Platner, for his part, is positioning himself as the kind of fighter the party needs to reconnect with disaffected working-class voters. “Working-class people in this country feel like they’re not being represented … both by policy and by the structure of our system,” Platner told The American Prospect. “The only way we’re going to get that is by sending up fighters from the working class who are willing to fight for the working class. And I’m getting the feeling from the response to our announcement that I was not the only one who felt that way.”
He is not alone in this approach. Platner is part of a cohort of populist Senate candidates—like Dan Osborn in Nebraska and Nathan Sage in Iowa—who are foregrounding anti-establishment, anti-corporate, and distinctly localist politics. Their platforms emphasize revitalizing small businesses and labor unions, curbing corporate power through robust antitrust enforcement, and imposing higher taxes on the wealthy to fund social benefits. The strategy harks back to the Greenback, Granger, and Progressive movements of the late 19th century, which reshaped American politics in response to the extreme concentration of wealth and power of that era.
Platner believes America is in the throes of a new Gilded Age. “I think the comparisons between the late 19th century and now are apt: vast amounts of wealth and regulatory structures that in no way, shape, or form keep that wealth in check,” he said, referencing the influence of figures like Elon Musk and Silicon Valley elites on the current administration and the Democratic Party establishment. “Part of what this candidacy is is a reaction to that.”
Yet Platner faces significant headwinds. Unlike Osborn, who is running a nonpartisan campaign in Nebraska, Platner is up against the entrenched machinery of both the state and national Democratic Party. National Democrats, led by Senator Chuck Schumer, have been actively recruiting experienced former officials—such as North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown—to flip Senate seats in 2026. In Maine, former California Rep. Katie Porter’s chief of staff Jordan Wood has already entered the race, raising over $1 million since April, and establishment figures like House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and Governor Janet Mills (who would be 85 by the end of a Senate term) are considering bids.
The stakes are high, especially as incumbent Republican Susan Collins faces falling approval ratings after casting the deciding vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which slashed taxes on the wealthy and funded those cuts by reducing Medicaid and food assistance. In a state won by Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, the Senate seat is a key target for Democrats looking to regain ground lost in 2024.
Platner’s campaign staff reflects his outsider status and his intent to reach new voters. He has brought on veterans of Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent New York City campaign and staffers from Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s team. Much of his early messaging has focused on appealing to young men, a demographic the Democratic Party has struggled to retain in recent cycles. Platner himself describes his political trajectory as one of transformation—from a “young contrarian man” with conservative leanings who rebelled against his parents’ liberal politics, to someone whose military service in Iraq and Afghanistan led him to see wealthy elites and defense contractors as the true adversaries. His return to Maine and work in local industry cemented his belief that politics must serve ordinary people, not the powerful.
Despite embracing progressive policies like Medicare for All and calling for an end to U.S. support for what he terms “the genocide in Gaza,” Platner is careful not to label himself as a progressive. “I support the Ukrainians in their fight. They were invaded. They’re resisting with all the means that they can. And I personally think that we should provide them with support,” he explained, drawing a distinction between different types of foreign intervention. He also opposes dismantling USAID and withdrawing American humanitarian and development support worldwide, arguing that such efforts are undermined by the resources wasted on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and U.S. support for Israeli actions in Gaza.
On immigration, Platner walks a fine line. He calls for “strong border security” but strongly opposes mass deportations, saying, “Our government is kidnapping people off the streets and imprisoning them in hellish conditions. This is unconscionable,” while supporting a pathway to citizenship. He frames this position as a check on multinational corporations that exploit undocumented workers.
Platner’s theory of politics stands in sharp contrast to what he sees as “an emerging liberal orthodoxy” that prioritizes rapid development and redistributive policies over local control and economic empowerment. He points to Maine’s lobster industry as a model: “The state of Maine has passed laws over the years that have regulated the lobster industry in a very specific way, and it means there’s one boat, one captain, one license. Fishing can only be conducted while the captain is aboard. This has entirely disincentivized consolidation,” Platner explained. “The result is a half-a-billion-dollar-a-year industry for the state of Maine that has almost no corporate ownership.” When asked about alternative approaches advocating for consolidation and post-hoc redistribution, Platner was blunt: “Those people are full of shit. The distribution of resources needs to happen at the level where things are being produced.”
As the Democratic Party heads toward a potentially record-setting 2028 primary, with deep disputes over its direction and identity, Platner’s campaign in Maine serves as a microcosm of the broader battle over the party’s future. Whether his populist, anti-establishment message can prevail in the face of entrenched interests remains to be seen, but for now, Platner is giving voice to a growing hunger for change among voters who feel left behind by both parties.
In the months ahead, all eyes will be on Maine—and on Graham Platner—as Democrats across the country wrestle with how best to respond to the challenges of a new political era.
