In a sharp escalation of Maine's Democratic Senate primary, Governor Janet Mills's campaign released a new television advertisement on Thursday directly confronting her main rival, progressive candidate Graham Platner, over past statements about sexual assault.
The ad features a woman identified as Betsy E., who states she served in the U.S. Army and was raped. Her testimony serves as a direct rebuttal to comments Platner made on social media over a decade ago, which were first reported by The Washington Post in October.
Veteran's Testimony Confronts Past Remarks
"For all women who have ever been raped, the pain never goes away," the woman says in the advertisement. "Graham Platner said women could avoid rape if they don't 'get so f---ed up they end up having sex with someone they don't mean to.' Mr. Platner, I was not f---ed up."
She continues, "Platner said women could avoid rape if they act like adults, 'for f---'s sake.' The rapists are to blame, not women like me." The advertisement represents a calculated political strike in a primary where Platner has emerged as Mills's most significant challenger for the right to face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.
The Controversial Comments
The remarks in question were posted by Platner on Reddit approximately twelve years ago. According to The Post's report, Platner wrote, "Holy f---, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to?"
In the same thread, he added, "Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don't want to be in a [compromising] situation, act like an adult for f---'s sake." The comments have resurfaced as a central vulnerability for Platner, who has sought to define himself as a progressive alternative to the more centrist Mills.
Platner has attempted to distance himself from the statements, telling The Washington Post they were made after several military tours in Afghanistan and Iraq during a difficult period in his life. "I don't want people to judge me off the dumbest thing I said on the internet 12 years ago," Platner said. "I can honestly say I did not know what the f--- I was talking about." He has asked voters to engage with "who I am today."
The Mills campaign's decision to highlight these comments through a personal testimonial underscores the high stakes of the primary and suggests the governor's team views Platner's past as a critical line of attack. The ad follows a pattern in modern campaigns where candidates face intense scrutiny over past statements, particularly those perceived as dismissive of military service or personal trauma.
This controversy also touches on broader national conversations about accountability for past remarks, a dynamic seen in other races where figures have condemned inflammatory rhetoric from political opponents. The Hill reported it reached out to Platner's campaign for comment on the new advertisement.
The Democratic primary is shaping up to be a contentious battle over the party's direction in Maine, with the winner likely to face a formidable challenge in unseating Collins, a seasoned incumbent. Mills's latest advertisement signals she is prepared to wage an aggressive campaign to secure the nomination, leveraging personal narratives to question her opponent's fitness for office.
