2026-06-06 01:33:07 / 《华盛顿邮报》
支持者对有关这位民主党参议院候选人的负面报道不予理会，并驳斥了他不是应对共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯的合适人选的说法。
美国东部夏令时2026年6月5日晚9:33 | 今日美国东部夏令时晚9:33
作者：莉兹·古德温
缅因州巴港—— 民主党人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳在离家乡不远的地方向数百名欢呼的支持者表示感谢，感谢他们对自己的支持，而他的参议院竞选正面临着严密的审查和批评。
“缅因州，你们支持我，”41岁的普拉特纳在支持者起立欢呼时说道，“当我的每一段过往和人生历程都被挖出来、被纠缠不休、被武器化时，你们依然站在我这边。”
这场集会与众议员罗·卡纳（D-加利福尼亚州）及其他民主党候选人一同在这个度假小镇的一家剧院举行。当前，普拉纳特正遭遇大量有关其过往的负面报道，华盛顿的一些民主党人也开始公开表示，他并非试图推翻共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯的合适人选，而这场选举对民主党争取参议院多数席位的竞选至关重要。
“我们需要彼此支持，因为我们正处于人生的关键战役中，”普拉特纳说道，他驳斥了一些针对他的指控是虚假且“出于政治动机”的。
过去一周，普拉特纳接连遭遇负面报道：有报道披露他在已婚状态下向多名女性发送露骨的色情短信；另有三名女性告诉《纽约时报》，她们过去与普拉特纳曾有过充满矛盾的不稳定关系。
其中一名前女友指控他曾对她实施身体限制。普拉特纳否认了该前女友关于他曾对其使用暴力的说法，他及其团队表示，这位女性作为共和党活动人士的身份削弱了其证词的可信度。《华盛顿邮报》尚未独立核实她关于暴力行为的指控。
人群中的一名支持者卡伦·斯文森表示，最近有关普拉特纳婚内给女性发色情短信的指控让她感到不适，但她对普拉特纳本周的回应印象深刻。
“他当着我们所有人的面说，他已经改过自新了，有谁有勇气这么说？”斯文森说道。
普拉特纳及其妻子艾米·格特纳表示，那些短信是个人私事，两人自2023年结婚以来已通过心理治疗解决了这个问题。活动期间，支持者为她起立鼓掌，并齐声呼喊她的名字。
民主党联邦参议院候选人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳于周五在缅因州巴港的竞选活动上向支持者致意。（罗伯特·F·巴卡蒂/美联社）
普拉特纳极有可能赢得6月9日的民主党初选。珍妮特·米尔斯州长因竞选未能取得进展，已于4月暂停竞选活动。本周，米尔斯提醒选民她仍在候选人名单上，她的支持者希望随着普拉特纳的困境加剧，她能获得大量抗议选票。
但周五晚间，普拉特纳的支持者驳斥了其他人可能作为民主党候选人参选的说法，称这是天方夜谭。许多人提到，过去几个月里，普拉特纳在全州巡回竞选时，以支持工人阶级的激进变革信息与支持者建立了紧密联系。
“如果他们想赶走格雷厄姆，就得动用一支大军，”73岁的退休人员凯瑟琳·格罗弗说道，她前来聆听普拉特纳的演讲，“他不会退出的。”
卡纳是国会中为指控声名狼藉的金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦虐待行为的女性发声的主要倡导者之一，他在为普拉特纳辩护的演讲中采取了谨慎态度，称普拉特纳并非完人，但已经承认了自己的错误。
“没有人应该为他过去的感情关系找借口，其中一些关系充满毒性和矛盾，”卡纳说道，“我们这边也没有人应该攻击站出来发声的女性。”
但卡纳补充道，美国“摧毁”了像普拉特纳这样的年轻男性——这位曾患有创伤后应激障碍的退伍军人——将他们派往战场。“如果有人在过去的感情关系中受到了格雷厄姆的伤害，我们可以倾听他们的诉求，也可以倾听格雷厄姆的说法，”卡纳说道。
普拉特纳此前也曾挺过争议。他曾因删除的Reddit评论引发争议，这些评论侮辱了缅因州农村居民，并淡化了美军中性侵犯问题的严重性。普拉特纳还于去年去掉了胸前带有纳粹关联含义的纹身，他表示自己是在竞选期间才首次意识到该纹身的含义。他否认了许多Reddit评论，并表示那些评论是在他与未接受治疗的创伤后应激障碍抗争时发表的。
Graham Platner says his past has been ‘weaponized’ at rally in Maine
2026-06-06 01:33:07 / The Washington Post
Supporters brush off negative stories about the Democratic Senate candidate and rebut suggestions that he is the wrong person to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins.
June 5, 2026 at 9:33 p.m. EDT Today at 9:33 p.m. EDT
By Liz Goodwin
BAR HARBOR, Maine — Democrat Graham Platner thanked hundreds of cheering supporters not far from his hometown for supporting him as his Senate campaign faces intense scrutiny and criticism.
“Maine, you have my back,” Platner, 41, said, as his supporters stood and cheered. “As every single piece of my past and journey gets dug up, litigated and weaponized, you have my back”
The rally with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) and other Democratic candidates at a theater in this resort town comes as Platner battles a spate of tough news accounts of his past and as a few Democrats in Washington have begun publicly suggesting he is not the right person to try to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that is crucial to Democrats’ bid to flip the Senate.
“We’re going to need to have each others’ backs because we are in the fight of our lives,” Platner said, dismissing some allegations made against him as false and “politically motivated.”
Over the past week, Platner has faced down stories that revealed he sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women despite being married and another in which three women told the New York Times they had volatile relationships with Platner in the past.
One ex-girlfriend alleged that he once physically restrained her. Platner has denied the ex-girlfriend’s claims that he ever was violent with her, and he and his team have said her work as a Republican activist discredits her. The Washington Post has not independently verified her claims of violence.
One of Platner’s supporters in the crowd, Karen Svenson, said the recent allegations of texting women while married bothered her, but she was impressed by how he responded this week.
“He told us back to our faces that he is a changed man, and who has the guts to say that?” Svenson said.
Platner and his wife, Amy Gertner, have said the texts were a personal matter that they worked through in therapy since their marriage in 2023. Supporters gave her a standing ovation during the event and chanted her name.
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, acknowledges supporters Friday at a campaign event in Bar Harbor, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)
Platner is heavily favored to win the June 9 Democratic primary. Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April after failing to gain traction. This week, Mills reminded people that she is still on the ballot, and her supporters are hoping she will receive a sizable protest vote as Platner’s troubles mount.
But Platner’s supporters on Friday night dismissed the notion that someone else might step in as the Democratic nominee, calling it fantasy. Many cited the bond Platner has built with his supporters as he crisscrossed the state over the past few months with his populist message of sweeping change to empower the working class.
“They’re going to have to bring an army if they think they’re going to get rid of Graham,” said Kathleen Grover, a 73-year-old retiree who came to see him speak. “He’s not going to go.”
Khanna, who has become a leading advocate in Congress for women who accused disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein of abuse, walked a fine line in his speech defending Platner, saying Platner was not perfect but had owned his mistakes.
“No one should make excuses for his past relationships, some of which were toxic and volatile,” Khanna said. “And no one on our side should attack the women who came forward.”
But Khanna added the United States “broke” young men like Platner, a combat veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, by sending them to war. “If someone felt hurt by Graham in a past relationship, we can listen to them, and we can listen to Graham,” Khanna said.
Platner has survived controversies before. He weathered reporting on his deleted Reddit comments insulting rural Mainers and downplaying the seriousness of sexual assault in the military. Platner also changed a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest last year after he said he first became aware of its connotations during his campaign. He disavowed many of the Reddit comments and said he made them when he was battling untreated PTSD.
发表回复