Graham Platner, Frontrunner in the Upcoming Race for US Senate to Unseat Senator Collins, Addresses his Base on Saturday evening, April 18, 2026 in Portland, at the Holiday Inn by the Bay.
Leslie Platner, (Graham’s Mother), Caroline and Ted Harlow, (an Aunt and Uncle of Graham’s) Sat in the Front Row of the Rally on April 18, 2026. The Harlows are From New Hampshire. Ted is the Brother of Leslie Platner.
Over 1,000 people descended upon the Holiday Inn by the Bay looking for a new direction for Maine politicians to pursue in their quest for a better life for all Mainers.
Central to that quest is the defeat of incumbent Senator Susan Collins(R) – a MAGA member and staunch supporter of Trumpism who supports subsidies for the weathiest among us. Assisting in this endeavor was the popular Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The base found an abundance of new ideas between this dynamic duo who had the crowd cheering and often standing at many of their utterances at the Saturday evening rally.
Speaking for about twenty minutes before Graham spoke, Senator Warren said she asked him when did he first realize the 2008 financial crisis was “rigged?” Graham answered: “when the bankers did not go to jail.” Her “aha” moment.
“I’m so tired of being told what we can’t do instead of what we can do,” Warren, a former law school professor before becoming a Senator, emphasized. “How can we decide that only some of us have health care and the others can’t?” she posed. “Corruption is why we don’t have universal health care. It is more important to ‘bend a knee.'” The passionate Senator continued: “This is the most corrupt admnistration in American history. The stench of it is in the street and in the halls of Congress. We will win when we have the courage to take on the billionaries. Are you ready to elect a real fighter to go to DC?” as she introducted the next Senator from Maine – Graham Platner.
An earsplitting standing ovation greeted Graham Platner as he walked to the front of the stage from the back where he had been standing during Senator Warren’s remarks. “I am running because we need politics that are different from what we’ve seen,” Graham said in his uncomplicated opening statement. “It is time to take our politics back.” And we can do it because this nation has a legacy of doing just that. Graham, clearly a history buff, recalled the women’s suffrage movement, the work of labor unions, and the civil righrs movement. These rights were not gained by asking permission for them. They had to be fought for.”
Graham, 41, recalled that when he was born in Blue Hill, there were 6 delivery venues. “There are now only 2 left.” He continued that people are “moneytizing their hobbies” in order to make ends meet. “Everyone in Maine has two jobs now.” There are fewer schools and hospitals in Maine. “It is a system rigged by people like Susan Collins who are undermining our policies. No one is coming to save us,” he said several times. Graham recalled the work of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins who was the first women to serve in a President’s cabinet – that of President F. D. Roosevelt. “She brought us social security. A society that doesn’t care for its elderly doesn’t have a good soul. The challenges before us will not be fixed in the margins.” He said it’s good to dream big, but they won’t come true if we continue to elect people who tell us we can’t do it.” He urged his base to “expand compassion to people we’ve been angry with for years. When America goes to war, people have the power. We have an opportunity to beat Susan Collins; this is the politics of the future. No one is coming to save us.”
An especially appealing feature of the Rally was the introduction of Senator Warren and Graham Platner by his wife, Amy Gertner.
Questions reman: When wlll Governor Janet Mills officially end her campaign for the US Senate? What does Senator Collins plan to do at the last moment to maintain her Senate seat? Call it a rigged election when she looses?