Free Republic

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has a new problem, and this one is harder to delete.New original reporting by The Wall Street Journal published Friday has tied Platner to an active profile on Kik, a messaging platform with a long and well-documented history of child exploitation, and that law enforcement officials and online safety advocates have repeatedly flagged as a danger to minors.The account, listed under the username "phustle0331," featured a mirror selfie of a towel-clad man. It was linked to other online handles associated with Platner, and remained active as recently as this week.When pressed, Platner's campaign confirmed...

The wife of the Maine Democratic Senate candidate last year told the campaign about texts she had found between Platner and other women Days after Graham Platner announced his Maine Senate bid, his wife informed the campaign about a potential political problem she had previously discovered on the oyster farmer’s phone: sexually explicit texts with several women, according to people familiar with the matter. Amy Gertner, who married Platner in 2024, told the campaign about messages she had found early in their marriage in the spring of 2025. In late August, as some aides were conducting opposition research on their...