A top Democrat on Sunday expressed “concerns” about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in the wake of reports that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women, which his wife said she flagged to his campaign.

Asked about the controversy on ABC News, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said, “Yeah I have concerns. That guy has questions to answer and that’s what campaigns are for.”

The oyster farmer and Marnie Corps veteran’s wife, Amy Gertner, informed a senior campaign aide last summer that he had exchanged sexual messages with several women, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Gertner acknowledged in a lengthy video released on social media Saturday evening that she had informed her husband’s campaign about his activity. “I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said.

Booker, a leading Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate, explained his position on Platner, saying, “So much is riding on Democrats taking control of the Senate … It’s time we take back the Senate and that’s what I’m focused on.”

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Platner, who has been engulfed in controversy for months — including over a Nazi-style tattoo he had on his body for many years — became the presumptive Senate Democratic nominee to face Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November after Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April.

Gertner defended her marriage and said that she and her husband have been working through their issues in counseling. “We work on our mental health every day,” she said.

She called the news reports about her husband’s extramarital sexting “extra shitty” and said she’s “really angry” and “disappointed” by the media coverage about that rather than focusing on Platner’s policy plans. She added that she and her husband “love each other deeply.”

Another congressional Democrat, Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, said last week that Platner’s tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, which he later covered up, and past comments are reason enough to not support his candidacy.

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Erum Salam

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.