Ex-staffer of Platner campaign says Democratic Senate candidate’s wife told her of sexually explicit texts
The former political director of U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign told MS NOW that Platner’s wife flagged that her husband had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with at least a dozen other women before he launched his bid for Maine’s Democratic nomination in 2025.
Genevieve McDonald, who left Platner’s campaign in October 2025 amid controversy over his social media posts, said that Platner’s wife, , revealed her husband had exchanged the messages in late August 2025 before he launched his insurgent bid. The conversation came shortly before Platner was to appear at a rally with progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
The Platner campaign, which McDonald directed at the time, evaluated the alleged text messages as an election vulnerability after McDonald’s conversation with Platner’s wife. Gertner told McDonald that she and her husband were working through the matter in marriage counseling, McDonald said.
McDonald’s conversation with MS NOW followed reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal of Platner’s sexually explicit texts with multiple women, of which she was the primary source.
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Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
