After reports over the weekend that Graham Platner sent sexually explicit text messages to women while he was married, several key Democrats are standing by Maine’s presumptive Democratic Senate nominee.

Asked on Monday if he was rethinking his support for Platner, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — the progressive leader who endorsed the oyster farmer just days into his campaign — told MS NOW, “Certainly not.”

“Maybe we should be focusing on the important issues facing working people throughout this country, not focusing on his marriage,” Sanders said. 

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He pointed to statements from Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, that the couple remains committed to one another, and he suggested the media focus on “the issues facing the American people, the people of Maine, and not the marriage issues facing Graham Platner.”

It was a similar sentiment from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — another key Platner booster — who brushed off questions about the candidate’s indiscretions and pivoted to rising gas prices, the war in Iran, and Democratic hopes of unseating the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins.

“Susan Collins has a history of supporting Donald Trump. Susan Collins has a history of supporting a war halfway around the world that is costing the American people billions of dollars and driving up prices for every single family in Maine,” Warren told reporters on Monday. “Graham Platner is showing the courage and determination to take that away,” she added. “I believe that’s what the people of Maine care the most about.”

Pressed on whether she had any concerns with the sexting or Platner’s moral character, Warren repeatedly pivoted to the price of gas and the war in Iran.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who led the Senate Democratic campaign arm from 2017 until 2019, also pivoted to the economy when asked about Platner, telling reporters that Maine voters are most interested in the current economic situation, which the embattled Democratic candidate is focused on.

“The people of Maine want somebody who’s gonna fight for their economic interests every day, rather the incompetent incumbent who fights to protect Trump’s corruption every day,” Van Hollen said. “And Graham Platner has made it clear his top priority is fighting for the economic interests of Maine, not defending a lawless president who says publicly that he’s not focused on the finances of the American people and has described these high gas prices as peanuts.”

“Graham Platner will focus on people’s financial situation,” Van Hollen added.

Asked about the revelations, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., acknowledged the scandal, but brushed it aside: “We know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience; he’s been very clear and open with his wife, and they’ve worked through whatever they’ve worked through.”

“At the end of the day,” Gallego added, “this man has had 60 more town halls than Susan Collins has, he’s winning the polls, he’s willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and you know, I think we should accept that.”

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The expressions of support come after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported over the weekend that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told the campaign last year that her husband had sent sexually explicit text messages to up to a dozen other women.

Genevieve McDonald, a former state representative and political director for Platner’s campaign, told MS NOW that Gertner disclosed the texts. The campaign has since confirmed that the messages are real.

McDonald — who left the campaign in October after Platner’s old, inappropriate social media posts were unearthed — said Gerter told her the couple was dealing with the matter in counseling. She also told MS NOW the campaign tried to assess the alleged texts as an election vulnerability when Gertner brought them to the campaign’s attention.

In a statement over the weekend, Platner said “Amy and I went through something hard — because of me.” And in a lengthy video posted on social media, Gertner said “Graham and I have a great marriage. Being married is hard. Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard.”

It’s just the latest controversy to hit Platner’s campaign ahead of the June 9 Democratic primary. Last year, Reddit users unearthed old posts showing Platner making inappropriate comments about sexual assault, saying he “became a communist” and writing that white rural Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, among other things.

Platner has since said many of the posts were “just stupid joke comments.”

“It was just dumb stuff on the internet and when I stopped being lonely and isolated I didn’t use that as an outlet anymore,” he said.

Platner has also come under fire for getting a tattoo of a skull and crossbones that resembled a Nazi symbol. Last year, his campaign said he covered it up.

Asked on Monday about the “drip-drip” of controversies, Gallego said reporters were living in a “bubble.”

“The drip-drip that’s actually happening is Americans are really, really hurt. The fact that gas is still high, food is still high, can’t buy a home, you can’t afford rent; they’re not gonna care about text messages and everything else. Like, that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses,” Gallego said.

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Not all Democrats were as dismissive.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Platner “has to answer those questions directly and forthrightly.”

“They’re fair questions, and that’s gonna be on him to answer that, and it’s gonna be up to the voters in Maine to decide,” Welch said.

Pressed on whether the story would negatively impact Platner’s electability, Welch said it would “depend on how he handles it.” 

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., similarly said he has “concerns” during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

“That guy has questions to answer. And that’s what campaigns are for,” Booker said.

News of the text messages, meanwhile, is threatening to shake up the Maine Senate race — a key competition for Democrats as they plot their way back to the majority.

While Platner is the only Democrat still running in the race, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, will still be on the ballot. The governor was running against Platner in the Democratic primary, but announced last month she was “suspending active campaigning,” citing financial issues.

According to Maine’s chief deputy secretary of state, Katherine McBrien, Mills withdrew from campaigning but did not officially withdraw from the race, leaving her name on the ballot. 

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Mills, for her part, recognized that reality in a not-so-subtle-way on Sunday.

“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’” Mills told Portland Press Herald on Sunday. “But I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.”

The uncertainty has left some Democrats steering clear of the race altogether, even if their Senate majority hangs in the balance.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., told reporters she hadn’t been following “the ins and outs” of the race. “I’m gonna work with whoever the state of Maine elects to work here. Period,” she said. 

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he had stayed out of the Maine Democratic primary “since its first day, and I’m planning on staying out of it.” And Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, Collins’ partner, pointed to his practice of not getting involved in campaigns that another senator is part of.

Two key senators, meanwhile, have remained conspicuously mum on the topic: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

Both Schumer and Gillibrand backed Mills over Platner in the Democratic primary, and both have not commented on the extramarital sexting allegations as of Monday.