Overview

• Platner, 40, is an Army and Marine veteran with four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who now works as an oysterman and serves as Sullivan’s harbormaster.
• He is running on universal health care, housing affordability and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars, positioning himself as a working‑class, anti‑establishment candidate.
• Citing his 2018 service as a State Department security contractor, he condemns what he describes as taxpayer money flowing to defense contractors.
• He joins a growing Democratic primary field that includes Jordan Wood and David Costello, as Gov. Janet Mills weighs a run and Rep. Jared Golden has opted out.
• Republicans hold a 53–47 Senate edge, leaving Democrats needing four flips in 2026, and Collins is coming off a more than eight‑point 2020 win over Sarah Gideon in blue Maine.