Platner Wins Maine Senate Primary, Setting Up Key Race

Graham Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer with no prior elected office experience, won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine on Tuesday, overcoming a series of personal controversies to set up one of the most consequential races of the 2026 midterm cycle. Platner will face five-term Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins in November, a contest that could determine control of the Senate.

According to Al Jazeera, Platner captured approximately 72 percent of the vote with 42 percent of precincts reporting, far outpacing Governor Janet Mills, who had suspended her campaign in April but remained on the ballot, and fellow Democrat David Costello. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declared in a joint statement with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: “In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”

A High-Stakes Race for Senate Control

Maine is the only state with a competitive Senate race where voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024, and Collins is the only Republican senator from New England, as WBUR/AP reported. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, meaning Democrats need to flip at least three seats to take control. The Platner-Collins matchup is widely seen as a must-win for Democratic hopes.

Collins, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and was unopposed in the Republican primary, is seeking a sixth six-year term. Her campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick emphasized her record, stating: “While others talk about revolution and division, Susan Collins is delivering for Maine communities by funding rural hospitals, supporting our shipbuilders and fishermen, improving infrastructure, expanding broadband, and strengthening public safety.”

Platner struck a defiant tone in his victory speech in Blue Hill, Maine, directly attacking Collins over her record on military engagements. “Susan Collins has never met a war she didn’t like, she has been supporting endless wars since I was a teenager, and I know, I had to fight in two of them,” he said. “You and your friends profited, and my friends died.”

Controversies and Redemption

Platner’s rise has been shadowed by a series of damaging revelations. As The Guardian detailed, these include resurfaced Reddit posts appearing to endorse political violence and containing homophobic slurs, a skull-and-crossbones tattoo resembling a Nazi Totenkopf symbol that Platner says he has since covered, and allegations of sexually explicit text messages with multiple women while married. The New York Times also reported on allegations from an ex-girlfriend who said Platner twisted her arm and locked her in a room during an argument, which his campaign disputed.

Platner has attributed his past behavior to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression from combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I have made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret, that I live with, that I continue to learn from,” he told supporters on Tuesday night. “I am still far from perfect, but every day I wake up, and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before.”

His progressive platform — including Medicare for All, a wealth tax on billionaires, raising the federal minimum wage, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel — has earned him endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren, as The New Yorker noted. Governor Janet Mills, who suspended her Senate bid in April citing fundraising difficulties, has yet to endorse Platner.

South Carolina: Mixed Results for Trump Endorsements

In South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham won his Republican primary with nearly 58 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff. Graham, who once called Trump “the most unprepared person I have ever met to be commander in chief” before becoming a staunch ally, will face Democrat Annie Andrews in November.

Trump’s endorsement yielded mixed results in the gubernatorial primary. Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette (28.9 percent) and Attorney General Alan Wilson (26.2 percent) advanced to a June 23 runoff, while Representative Nancy Mace finished a distant fifth with approximately 10 percent. Mace’s defeat was widely attributed to her support for releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which strained her relationship with Trump. Democrat Jermaine Johnson, a state representative and former professional basketball player, won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Representative James Clyburn (D-SC), 86, easily won his primary after Republican efforts to redraw his majority-Black district failed in the state Senate.

California and Nevada Highlights

In California, former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra (D) and former Fox News personality Steve Hilton (R) advanced to the general election for governor. Billionaire Tom Steyer conceded after spending $216 million on his campaign, finishing third. According to an estimate from the nonpartisan California Target Book, Steyer has now spent over $557 million across his presidential and gubernatorial campaigns without winning a single delegate.

In Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, Trump-endorsed video game composer Marty O’Donnell won the Republican primary with 42.4 percent of the vote. He will face Democrat Susie Lee in a battleground district that could help decide control of the House.

What to Watch Next

The Platner-Collins race is expected to be one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate contests in the country, with national implications for the balance of power in Washington. Key questions remain: whether Governor Mills will eventually endorse Platner, how effectively Republicans can weaponize his controversies in the general election, and how the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and its economic fallout will shape voter priorities by November.

In Maine, ranked-choice voting will determine the outcomes of the gubernatorial and 2nd Congressional District primaries, where no candidate won a majority on Tuesday.