In the State of Maine, an oyster farmer named Graham Platner is taking on the personification of wishy-washy, Sen Susan Collins. His introductory video is pretty good and he's got some real good hits in there:
What I love most about Maine are the people. I have never met people who are more hard-scrabble, even in a place that requires you to work like two or three different jobs. We have watched this state become essentially unlivable for working-class people, and it makes me deeply angry.
My name is Graham Plattner, and I'm running for U.S. Senate in Maine to defeat Susan Collins, a decade of military service going overseas, farming oysters to feed my community, diving to lend a hand to other fishermen, trying to start a family.
But everywhere I've gone, it seems like the fabric of what holds us together is being ripped apart by billionaires and corrupt politicians, profiting off of destroying our environment, driving our families into poverty, and crushing the middle class. I did four infantry tours in the Marine Corps and the Army. I'm not afraid to name an enemy, and the enemy is the oligarchy. It's the billionaires who pay for it and the politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins.
I'm not fooled by this fake charade of Collins' deliberations and moderation. The difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is at least Ted Cruz is honest about selling us out and not giving a damn. People know that the system is screwing them. They know it in their bones. Nobody I know around here can afford a house. Health care is a disaster, hospitals are closing. We have watched all of that get ripped away from us, and everyone's just trying to keep it all together.
Why can't we have universal health care like every other first world country? Why can't we take care of our veterans when they come home? Why are we funding endless wars on bombing children? Why are CEOs more powerful than unions? We fought three different wars since the last time we raised a minimum wage. I'm not pretending to have all the answers, but I know that I'm asking the right questions.
When I tell people around here that I'm running for Senate, sometimes the initial reaction is what the f***, but not right there. But when I tell them why I'm doing it, because I truly do believe that we can build a system that is going to represent working people, the number one response has been, well, thank God somebody's going to do it. You're supposed to fight for the things you love. This is our home, and I will fight tirelessly for it, for you.
It's Mainers First, and Maine, always.
What I like most about Platner is that he is taking a more direct but positively challenging approach. He has put a twist on the Serenity Prayer, asking for the strength to change the unacceptable:
"There is a very tired playbook that the Democrats have run for a while where DC chooses establishment candidates that they base upon their fundraising capacity, and in 2020... they just got battered, and Susan Collins held the seat," Platner told Zeteo, referring to Democrats' decision to run state House Speaker Sara Gideon, who lost by nearly nine points despite vastly outraising Collins. "So in my opinion, we need to be doing something else. I mean, clearly that is a failed strategy."
Platner also said that he would not support Chuck Schumer to be the party leader in the Senate, saying they needed someone with both a vision and a willingness to fight. Platner also has hired Suzanne Katz, one of the top strategists for Zohran Mamdani.
To learn more about Platner, check out his Grahampaign website. (His pun, not mine)
