Graham Platner Addressed his Supporters in Blue Hill on Primary Day, June 9, 2026.  He is a Combat Vet, Oyster Farmer and Well-Read History Buff. .

Outside the now-closed Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville, Graham Platner called out Susan Colins’ pivotal vote to advance Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) – legislation that slashed Medicaid, threatened rural hospitals already in crisis, and delivered yet another tax break to billionaires.

Platner stood alongside healthcare providers and community advocates to highlight how Collins’ failed leadership and devastatding votes have not only left Maine with fewer hospitals and a collapsing health care system, bt have also accelerated the rural hospital crisis to the benefit of insurance companies, private equity and bilionaires who can cash in.

Since the closing of Northern  Light Inland, the nearest hospital is over 30 miles away in A ugusta, with no public transportation connectding the two cities.  This isn’t an isolated care.  Nearly half of Maine’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing and Susan Collins vote to move Trump’s OBBB through the Senate put more rural hospitals at risk.

“No rural hospital that closes is an accident; it is a policy choice,” said Graham Platner.  “It’s what happens when politicians like Susan Collins put insurance companies, Big Pharma and private equity firms ahead of the people they’re supposed to represent.  Collins loves to say she didn’t vote for this bill.  But Mainers see through the charade.  Her vote was pivotal to advancing it and it paved the way for passage.”