Graham Platner's wife is publicly defending the Maine Democratic Senate hopeful after reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with women during their marriage, calling the coverage of the private texts "shameful."
Amy Gertner, who married Platner in November 2023, said in a video shared by the campaign that she and her husband have a "great marriage" and criticized the public airing of what she described as deeply personal issues.
Her comments came after The Wall Street Journal first reported that she had told campaign aides in 2025 about explicit messages Platner had sent to other women during their marriage.
"I just really wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Graham and I have a great marriage," Gertner said in the campaign video. She added that the couple had gone through counseling and worked through the issue privately. Gertner called the media coverage "shameful" and described the reports as "gossip."
Gertner went on to say she had confided in someone she considered a friend and felt betrayed when the information became public. The controversy centers on information Gertner reportedly shared during an internal vetting process near the start of Platner's campaign.
The Journal reported that Gertner told a campaign aide she had discovered the messages in spring 2025, early in the couple's marriage. A campaign official told the newspaper that the matter was treated as private and that the campaign moved forward.
Former campaign political director Genevieve McDonald has said Gertner told her Platner had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women, while a current campaign official said the number was up to six. Platner, an oyster farmer and former Marine, is running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine.
He became the presumptive Democratic nominee after Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign as she trailed in the polls, though he still faces long-shot Democratic candidate David Costello in the primary. The texting controversy adds to earlier scrutiny of Platner's campaign. He has previously apologized for inflammatory Reddit posts and faced criticism over a tattoo identified by critics as resembling a Nazi-associated Totenkopf symbol, which he later covered.
The revelations have complicated a campaign that had drawn major progressive attention and endorsements from figures including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Gertner, however, framed the matter as a marital struggle, not a political scandal. "I know who Graham is," she said in the video.
"I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life." The timing is politically dangerous as Maine is expected to be a key Senate battleground, and Collins, a five-term Republican, is one of the Democratic Party's top targets.
.png?w=600)
