Staff photo illustration

It took less than 24 hours for Hancock County oyster farmer Graham Platner to go from political unknown to national progressive darling.

Since Platner announced Tuesday that he would challenge five-term incumbent Susan Collins for her U.S. Senate seat, his campaign has generated significant attention from national media and online influencers. Some conservatives have already branded him “Maine’s Mamdani,” a reference to the New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who surprised many by winning a Democratic primary two months ago.

“This is far beyond anything I could have imagined,” Platner said in an interview Thursday. “So many people have been reacting positively to a message of, frankly, things I’ve been saying to my wife and friends for years.”

Platner, 40, is among a half-dozen Democrats running to unseat Collins, none of whom is well known. But unlike the others, his campaign has racked up attention quickly. The New York Times, Politico, NBC News, MSNBC and Fox News all covered Platner’s campaign launch Tuesday, and the buzz about him on social media has been substantial.

Some of Platner’s Democratic opponents are skeptical of the attention he’s received.

“National media attention doesn’t decide elections — Mainers do,” said Jordan Wood, of Bristol, a former congressional staffer who announced his campaign in April.

Part of the reason Platner’s campaign is reaching more people than his competitors may be because of who he has working for him. Joe Calvello, former director of communications for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is a senior adviser. And Platner is working with Fight Agency, a Democratic consulting firm that is behind Mamdani’s campaign and produced Platner’s campaign launch video.

But he also said his platform is helping him connect.

“I think the message I’m bringing, which is … that establishment politics in this country do not reflect the realities of people’s lives. I think people are hungry for that message,” Platner said.

Platner served three deployments to Iraq with the Marine Corps and also was deployed to Afghanistan with the Army National Guard before settling in Sullivan, a small town in Hancock County where he runs Waukeag Neck Oyster Company.

While he’s never held elected office, Platner serves as planning board chair (an appointed position) and harbormaster in Sullivan. And he said he’s always been involved in his community.

He said he was approached about running for Senate last month by people involved in Maine labor and community groups, which got him thinking about the idea.

“They didn’t come to me as organizations, they were just people I know across the state,” Platner said. “It was much more of an informal discussion than a formal recruitment process.”

He said he hasn’t yet had any discussions with the national Democratic Party about his campaign.

National Democrats have been rumored to be trying to recruit Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat nearing the end of her second term, to run against Collins. Mills has not announced any plans to run but told WMTW this month that she “would think seriously about it.”

The race comes as Democrats are trying to coalesce around future leadership and a party message that resonates with voters in the wake of losing the 2024 presidential election. Collins’ seat has also been eyed by the party as a potential pickup opportunity in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Asked if he thinks he would be a stronger candidate than Mills, Platner said, “Using the same kind of playbook Democrats have used in the past of kind of more establishment candidates who can do lots of big-dollar fundraising and running campaigns that aren’t ground-game focused, I think that’s not going to work.”

He draws a stark contrast to Sara Gideon, a Freeport resident, Democratic speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and former advertising executive whom Democrats rallied around in an attempt to oust Collins in 2020. The race drew record spending, though Gideon ultimately lost by 9 percentage points.

Platner said he’s a different type of candidate who is “not coming out of the establishment” and is well-positioned to connect with everyday working people. Earlier this summer, Platner met with gun control advocate and former co-vice chair of the Democratic National Committee David Hogg. Though Platner is a firearms instructor and owner, he said “we had an extremely excellent conversation, and it was a real pleasure to meet him.”

Hogg posted a photo of the two on X this week, captioning it, “Got the best oysters I’ve ever had from his farm. He’s the real deal and would make an incredible senator.”

Got the best oysters I’ve ever had from his farm. He’s the real deal and would make an incredible Senator. https://t.co/tK8wxKMrOw pic.twitter.com/jENS5jF0j2

— David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) August 19, 2025

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

OPPONENTS WEIGH IN

His Democratic primary opponents remain nonplussed about his quick rise to fame. Wood, for instance, touted the fact that he’s received more than two dozen endorsements from Maine elected and community leaders and has raised more than $2 million for his campaign.

Platner’s campaign has raised $350,000 just since the launch on Tuesday.

Another Democratic candidate, David Costello, of Brunswick, has decades of experience in government, including management of foreign aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said it was clear that Platner had hired a great “outside team” to launch his campaign but questioned if it would be successful in the long run.

“Graham, a former Marine and oyster farmer who’s politically positioned himself as an anti-establishment populist is clearly an interesting story line and candidate,” Costello said in an email. “It’s akin to catnip for political reporters.”

“Unknown is whether there’s sufficient substance and experience (beef) to go with all the sizzle,” Costello added. “If President Trump has proven anything, it’s that populists can often make excellent candidates, but terrible legislators and government administrators.”