Polls close for Illinois primary election as Senate, House races in spotlight
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is launching her first negative TV ad today, targeting her opponent in the Democratic Senate primary over his controversial social media posts.
The ad features women reading past Reddit posts from Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, where he downplayed sexual assault. The women call the comments “disgusting,” “horrible” and “disqualifying.”
In the online posts from 2013, first reported by The Washington Post, Platner responded to a commenter who wrote, “There’s always that story about the girl who gets raped because she drank too much and somebody took advantage of that.”
Platner responded, “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? 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 comprising situation, act like an adult for f—s sake.”
Platner said in an interview with the Post about those Reddit comments, “I can honestly say I did not know what the f— I was talking about. I have been for quite some time on the opposite side of this conversation.”
The political newcomer weathered a series of revelations about his controversial Reddit posts late last year, apologizing for posts that he acknowledged were offensive, and suggesting that some posts were made in jest. He has said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder following his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mills’ campaign ad closes with a narrator saying, “Graham Platner, the closer you look, the worst it gets,” as a decade-old video plays of a shirtless Platner with a tattoo on his chest. That tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol, and Platner denied knowing the Nazi association when he got the tattoo while serving as a Marine serving in Croatia. Platner has since said he has covered up the tattoo.
Platner told NBC News in October that the controversies had “strengthened” his campaign.
Platner campaign manager Ben Chin said in a statement that the ad is “nothing more than a desperate attempt for relevance from the governor, who is trailing an oyster farmer in every recent poll.”
“Despite what Janet Mills and DC think, Mainers know that Graham should not be defined by the worst thing he said on the internet over a decade ago,” Chin added.
Platner is also on the airwaves and launched a new TV ad today, touting him as the candidate best-positioned to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins. A narrator says in the ad that Platner “can win back people Democrats have been losing.”
The Democratic primary is June 9.
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