Graham Platner touts himself as a candidate for “working Mainers” as he seeks to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, but critics insist that the Democrat’s carefully crafted image runs counter to his affluent upbringing as the son of a prominent attorney and successful entrepreneur.
Platner, a pivotal piece for Democrats to potentially regain control of the Senate by flipping four Republican-held seats in November’s midterm elections, holds a 4-point lead over Collins, according to a poll released Thursday. A separate survey last month prior to reports of Platner’s alleged sexually explicit messages to women found Platner at 48 percent to Collins’ 43 percent among likely Maine voters.
Platner, whose campaign has been beset by reports of volatile relationships with former girlfriends, characterized himself as a “working-class guy” during an interview in August, while his website extolls a passion for serving the common citizen.
“Graham Platner is a Marine and U.S. Army veteran, oyster farmer, and former chair of the Sullivan Planning Board, and candidate running for U.S. Senate in Maine, to defeat Susan Collins and win back the seat for working Mainers,” the site reads.
Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and U.S. Marine combat veteran, lives just a short walk from his childhood home in Sullivan, Maine, where his parents, Bronson Platner and Leslie Harlow, divorced after separating when he was 6 years old. The elder Platner worked as a local attorney specializing in real estate and business transactions, while Harlow ran several local businesses. His grandfather, Warren Platner, had also worked as a renowned architect.
Platner’s parents have been united, however, in their allegiance to Democrats, with both attending local party meetings and events. Bronson Platner, 81, has donated more than $65,000 since 2011 to federal Democratic candidates and parties, including $3,500 to Senator Ruben Gallego weeks after the Arizona lawmaker endorsed his son, the New York Times reported last month.
“This is not a salt-of-the-earth guy coming up from a hardscrabble existence,” former Maine Democratic Party Chairman Tony Buxton told the newspaper. “If he’s an oysterman, I’m a florist, OK? Because I raise roses and give them to my wife.”
Newsweek reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment on Friday. Attempts to reach Bronson Platner and Leslie Harlow were unsuccessful.
Harlow, 72, who now owns and operates Ironbound restaurant in Hancock, had been a delegate at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and a former county party chairwoman. She has also hosted political fundraisers at the rustic inn and event space, the newspaper reported.
“We raised our children with strong values and beliefs,” Harlow said during a speech on her son’s behalf last year. “And I believe that Graham still has these. I know that Graham has always been the kid, the young man and the man who paved his own way.”
Platner, whose wife told campaign staffers that he previously sent sexual messages to other women, also recently referred to his upbringing during a recent American Legion hall in Sabattus, Maine, the Times reported, and has flatly dismissed the opulent-childhood accusations.
“I’ve never been close to money and power,” he told voters.
He told the Times: “I work with my hands on the ocean and I don’t make much money. I’m not really sure what else the definition is than working, making money from working, not being rich.”
But Platner has enjoyed ongoing financial assistance from his father, including paying for his home, while his mother remains his oyster farm’s biggest customer, the Times reported. Bronson Platner also paid for his son and his wife, Amy Gertner, to travel to Norway for fertility treatments this year, a source told the newspaper.
The bulk of Platner’s current income stems from nearly $60,000 in annual tax-free disability benefits following four combat tours, the Times reported, citing Platner, financial disclosures and sources familiar with the matter.
Decades earlier, while growing up in Maine, Platner briefly attended the Hotchkiss School, where he received financial assistance for the approximate $25,000 annual tuition in 1999. He felt out of place among wealthy students and was eventually expelled, Platner told the Times. Annual fees at the school now start at $68,700.
Platner later attended John Bapst Memorial High School, a private institution in Bangor, where tuition currently is $12,500. While there, he starred in a production of My Fair Lady and had been voted most likely to start a revolution, the Times reported.
Platner, who recently removed a shirtless photo of himself on Kik, also expounded on his idea of the “working class,” or anyone who earns money from wages.
“If you work for a living and you go out and put in hours and you pay taxes just like everyone else, I think that’s quite fair,” he told the Times last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read the full article here
