Mainers Want Fresh New Faces to Repesent them in Washington, DC Such as Oyster Farmer and US Marine Vet Graham Platner, 41, from Sullivan.
Addressing an overflow crowd that spilled out of the Food and Medicine headquarters in Brewer this afternoonn, Graham Platner, candidate for the US Senate from Maine, called for an immediate end to the bombing of Iran and said America needs a “new War Powers Act” to put war powers back with Congress where they belong.
In his remarks, Graham blasted Senator Susan Collins for her failure to support a War Powers Resolution to require President Trump to immediately cease the bombing of Iran, pointing to the devastating loss of three members of the US mililtary, five seriously wounded and Iranian lives, the massive expense to already overburdened American taxpayers and the ignorance displayed of the lessons of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This situation we find ourselves in is only possible because we have had a Congress that for decades has abdicated its authority — its constitutional authority — to declare war,” said Graham. He continued by laying out a vision for a new War Powers Act that would return war making authority to Congress.
“We need a truly reformed War Powers Act, where we really pull the power back. No more 48 hours of combat operations where you have to notify Congress. No more 60 days of combat operations before you have to prove to Congress that you should have gone to war in the first place. No. We need to know why military force is used right off the bat. The Constitution is clear about who is supposed to have the power of waging war in this country. It is the body that is most representative of the American people because it is the American people who have to bear the brunt of combat.”
Graham also took on the war’s defenders in Congress:
“Watching people who do not know the realties of war, watching people who know nothing of the horror that comes with this kind of violence, people who could not even imagine wha it feels like in the pit of your stomach when you hear that one of our friends has been killed or watching one of your best friends be riped apart by high explosive. Watching people who have no idea what any of this looks like or feels like celebrate, this disgusts me. It disgusts me on a level I cannot truly articulate.”
Other community members made remarks, including State Representative Amy Roeder of Bangor and Maine Auditor Matt Dunlap.
It was announced on cable news MSNOW this evening that the Trump Doctrine is: “The Rest is Up to You.” The Iranian people simply do not have the arms or the infrastructure to rise up against this regime and take back their country, adds this blogger.
Graham lives in Sullivan with his wife, Amy, just three doors down from the house where he grew up. As a member of the US Marine Corps, he served three deployments to Iraq. Later, he also enrolled in the Army National Guard and served in Afghanistan.
For background information on this protest, please visit post herein earlier today – March 1, 2026.