Scandal-plagued Graham Platner is projected to win the Maine Democratic Senate primary, setting up a November contest with incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The showdown will be among the most closely-watched Senate races in November. Platner, a military combat veteran and oyster farmer, has the support of several progressive darlings, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). BREAKING: Embattled Maine Democrat Graham Platner wins his party's nomination for Senate. He will now face longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins in November. The race is one of a handful across the country that will determine whether the GOP keeps control of its slim Senate… pic.twitter.com/2J1sWpuZ0m — Fox News (@FoxNews) June 10, 2026 Fox News shared further: Platner, who advocates an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class, also topped two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in the primary. The governor’s name remained on the ballot even though Mills, who had been backed by longtime Democratic Senate Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, suspended her bid earlier this spring after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling. “We’re going to win in November and we’re going to take power back for the people in this country,” Platner predicted Sunday night, at his final rally ahead of the primary. Platner has been playing defense the past month, amid multiple controversies. They include inflammatory online comments made on Reddit, a well-publicized and now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol, recent reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married, and new allegations last week from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes. Platner has called the latest allegations of violence untrue. On Monday, a day before the primary election, a former high-level staffer from the Planter campaign wrote in the Washington Post that Platner “is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country.” Despite the controversies, Platner has rallied enough support from progressive allies to challenge the longtime Republican senator. “What’s my risk with going with Graham Platner? My risk is, oh, maybe we’re wrong,” said Cenk Uygur, co-creator of the progressive online show “The Young Turks,” according to POLITICO. “But if we go with an establishment candidate, there’s a 100 percent chance we’re wrong,” he added. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) wasted no time launching an ad against Platner ahead of the November election. Check it out: Graham Platner delivers scandals. Susan Collins delivers results. In Maine, the choice is clear. pic.twitter.com/jTy5plt1vw — Senate Republicans (@NRSC) June 10, 2026 POLITICO has more: Uygur is also the founder of Rebellion PAC, which is backing Platner and other populist candidates in primaries, and has raised non-corporate funds and run messaging campaigns for candidates. The risks for progressives standing by Platner amid growing controversy extend well beyond Maine and even 2026. A loss would likely only deepen doubts about candidates in his mold, especially as the party looks toward what kind of Democrat can win the presidency in 2028. The left has notched a series of wins in recent years that have strengthened its hand against the party’s establishment wing, a fight dating back to Bernie Sanders’ 2016 primary against Hillary Clinton and continuing through his 2020 run against Joe Biden. That includes New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s meteoric rise last fall from little-known state lawmaker to one of the party’s most recognizable and well-liked new faces — a win powered by many of the same strategists now working for Platner. But that hard-fought momentum — and arguments that it’s worth taking a chance on more untested political outsiders over people with long political track records — is on the line with Platner. If he has a lackluster performance on Tuesday or, more importantly, goes on to lose the critical Senate race in the general election, establishment Democrats will amp up their “I told you so’s.” Progressives have circled the wagons hard around Platner, a stark contrast to other Democrats who’ve faced personal scandals in recent years. On the eve of Tuesday’s primary, Sanders said at the National Press Club that “there are no saints in the United States’ Senate” and that he was “going to do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine.”