Mills and Platner spar over attack ad in intensification of Maine primary to face Susan Collins

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The campaign of U.S. Senate hopeful Gov. Janet Mills released an advertisement Tuesday criticizing comments posted online by her rival Graham Platner, in an intensification of their Maine Democratic primary battle.

Mills and Platner are competing for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose seat is key for Democrats’ plans to take back the Senate.

The Mills campaign released a video in which women read some of Platner’s old social media posts that were dismissive of sexual assault. A narrator in the ad says Platner once wrote on Reddit that people shouldn’t get so drunk “they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”

The women conclude that he is “a bully” and there is “no way” they could vote for him. The video ends with a voice-over saying: “Graham Platner: the closer you look, the worse it gets.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and U.S. Marine veteran from rural Maine, apologized for his deleted comments months ago when they first resurfaced, and said he posted them while struggling with mental health issues after leaving the military. The comments showed him endorsing political violence, dismissing rape in the military and criticizing police officers and rural America.

Ben Chin, Platner’s campaign manager, described Mills’ ad as a “desperate attempt for relevance.”

“It’s why people hate politics and why not enough real people run for office: D.C. insiders who are so obsessed with their own power and threatened by someone who is building an actual movement of working people, that they launch a barrage of attacks to try to tear Graham down,” Chin said in a statement.

The Mills campaign said in a statement that Platner’s comments show him “minimizing sexual assault and blaming survivors.” The campaign also sent out a statement with comments from several Maine women criticizing Platner.

“Graham Platner’s comments aren’t just disgusting or disturbing, they are disqualifying,” said Peggy Schaffer of Vassalboro, a former vice chair of the Maine Democratic Party, in a statement distributed by the Mills campaign. “These comments make him unelectable in any general election.”

The race pits Mills, 78 and a Democratic stalwart who has the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, against a much younger and far less experienced opponent who has filled town halls across the state with a populist message centered on the cost of housing and health care. Platner, 41, has picked up endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.

Platner has also faced questions about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo reminiscent of a Nazi symbol. He has said he got the tattoo during a night of drinking and was unaware until recently that it was associated with Nazis. He has covered the tattoo with a different design.

Mills took a jab at Platner earlier this month when she posted on social media that “for what it’s worth, I don’t have any tattoos.”

Platner released an ad of his own on Tuesday that features an endorsement from a Maine woman named Susan Collins who is unrelated to the Republican senator. She describes the senator as a “D.C. insider” and says Platner is a “Democrat with backbone.”

The Collins campaign declined to comment on the dueling ads, or the argument between her prospective opponents. Collins, 73, was elected in 1996 and has turned back numerous challenges from Democratic opponents over the years.

The Democrats needs to net four seats to retake the Senate majority, and they see a path to do so in Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio.

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Associated Press reporter Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed.