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. .His Primary Day Victory set a Record for the State of Maine.

Get Out and Vote – Democracy is on the Ballot. Certified MAGA Member Susan Collis is on the Ballot and Should Not Be Says This Blogger.

No Health Care, No Open Rural Hospitals,  Climate Change Deniers Causing Extreme Weather Conditions from Fossil Fuels, Etc., Etc.

Outside the now-closed Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville, Graham Platner called out Susan Collins’ 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 devastating votes have not only left Maine with fewer hospitals and a collapsing health care system, but have also accelerated the rural hospital crisis to the benefit of insurance companies, private equity and billionaires who can cash in.

Since the closing of Northern  Light Inland, the nearest hospital is over 30 miles away in Augusta, with no public transportation connecting the two cities.  This isn’t an isolated case.  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 Colllins 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.”

Collins brags about the Rural Heath Transformation Program in the OBBB, but it pales in comparison to the bill’s projected $3 billion in cuts to Maine’s federal Medicaid funding over the next decade.  Those cuts will put more rural hospitals at risk of closing, make it harder for working Mainers to access care, and leave Maine communities worse off.

Planter, who was born at the now-closed maternity ward at the hospital in Blue HIll, framed the stakes in personal terms:

“It doesnot matter who you voted for if your hospital is closed,” Graham Platner said.  “While Collins is exacerbating our healthcare crisis by voting with Trump 94% of the time, I will stand up to the administration’s attacks on working Mainers by fighting for Medicare For All.  While Collins votes to pass a budget that attacks the working class and benefits billionaires, I will fight for a budget that reflects the morality of working-class Mainers, not Washington special interests.”

Doctor Samantha Deming-Berr, a physician practicing in rural Maine, spoke about the devastating cuts o rural healthcare services.  “When I had supper with my family last night, my seven-year-old asked me, “Why are hospitals closing?’ It’s really hard o explain, but what’s easy to see is that insurance companies are posting billions of dollars in profits, while the patients that I take care of have their healthcare denied and their healthcare services and facilities closed…..That shouldn’t be happening and it’s a public health problem that needs a new and creative solution that I think Graham can offer us.”

Former Mayor of Waterville Karen Heck noted the hundreds of jobs lost after the closure of Northern Light Inland Hospital and the similar devastating effects the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will have on other hospitals.  “The closure of Northern Llight left 390 employees strugglling to find jobs and 5,000 patients struggling to find primary care providers.  Even before closing the hospital had discontinued women’s reproductive health care services and its birthing unit …The money saved, or better described as stolen, from those services will then be transferred as tax cuts to line the already full pockets of the Epstein class.  The person who cast the key vote in moving this theft forward was none other than Susan Collins.

Heck concluded::  “For the past 40 years, I have been workng for Universal Health Care.  And for 40 years, I have heard elected officials say ‘we can’t afford it.’  I don’t believe them………..I’m supporting Graham for Senate because he doesn’t say’ we can’t afford it.  He says ‘we deserve it’.  And if we stop paying for useless wars and bilionaire tax breaks, we could have plenty of money to provide for it.”

“One of my favorite lines from the Graham Platner Senate campaign is:  ‘Susan Collins is for sale, but Maine is not,” says this blogger.

For previous posts by or about Graham Platner’s candidacy for the US Senate from Maine, please visit posts herein dated:  June 30, 29, 26, 25, 23, 22, 2026, etc.