WASHINGTON \u2014 Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is defending Senate candidate Graham Platner following news reports that the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine exchanged sexually explicit texts with women at the beginning of his marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanders, who has endorsed Platner in his bid to unseat GOP Sen. Susan Collins, said that working families face bigger issues than Platner\u2019s marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe got a housing crisis. People can\u2019t afford healthcare, they can\u2019t afford groceries, they can\u2019t afford to fill up their gas tanks. And I think it\u2019s important for us to focus on the issues facing working families a little bit more than Graham Platner\u2019s marriage,\u201d Sanders told reporters on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wish their marriage the very best. But right now, I think we should be focusing on the crises facing the working class and electing people of the guts to stand up to the oligarchs who control our country,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also said that Platner\u2019s wife, whom he called a \u201cvery lovely woman\u201d he\u2019s had \u201cthe opportunity to meet,\u201d was standing by him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Platner\u2019s wife, Amy Gertner, said in a video that Platner\u2019s campaign released over the weekend that she was \u201creally angry\u201d about the reports of the text messages, and that she found it \u201cshameful\u201d that there were people spreading \u201cgossip\u201d instead of discussing the issues Platner is running on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Gertner told Platner\u2019s campaign about the sexually explicit texts last year at the beginning of his Senate bid, while discussing potential opposition research on him. The Times cited a former senior official in Platner\u2019s campaign, and the Journal cited people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Platner\u2019s campaign confirmed he sent multiple women sexually explicit texts at the beginning of his marriage. He and his wife got married in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmy and I went through something hard \u2014 because of me,\u201d Platner said in a statement. \u201cWe did the work, and I\u2019m grateful for her every hour of every day. I\u2019ve learned throughout this campaign that people don\u2019t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you\u2019re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids. This campaign is about the ideas that will move Maine forward and past a broken politics of the past. Our opponents want politics to be empty of content and empty of actual change \u2014 and beating that is exactly what our movement is about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gertner said in her video on Saturday that she and Platner have a \u201cgreat marriage\u201d and that counseling has helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is also defending Platner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience. He\u2019s been very clear and open with his wife, and they worked through whatever they worked through,\u201d Gallego told reporters Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s winning the polls, he\u2019s willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and I think we should accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gallego added that voters are more focused on economic and financial challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe drip, drip that\u2019s actually happening is, Americans are really, really hurt … the fact that gas is still high, food is still high, they can\u2019t buy a home, you can\u2019t afford rent,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., on Monday called the reports of the text messages \u201ca tabloid story\u201d that is a \u201cbig deal in D.C.\u201d but not in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think in Maine people are going to litigate this race on who has the back of working-class Mainers,\u201d Heinrich told reporters. \u201cThere\u2019s a big D.C.-America disconnect, and it certainly applies to Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heinrich, who gave the candidate his endorsement in March, added that he is \u201cvery friendly\u201d with both Platner and Gertner, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve had plenty of conversations with both him and with Amy, and I think this is between them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comments come a day before Platner is set to meet with Senate Democrats, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News. The source said the trip had been previously planned and was unrelated to the reports of the texts that surfaced over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to Sanders, Platner has been endorsed by several national progressives, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who reiterated his support for Platner following reports about the text messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked Monday whether events in Platner\u2019s past signaled an issue with his character, Warren criticized Collins\u2019 support of President Donald Trump and initial support of the U.S. war against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGraham Platner is showing the courage and determination to take that on. I believe that\u2019s what the people of Maine care the most about,\u201d Warren said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reports about the text messages are not the first to cast a cloud over Platner\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October, he apologized for resurfaced Reddit posts in which he minimized the challenges faced by military members who had been sexually assaulted, called white rural people racist and stupid, referred to himself as a \u201ccommunist,\u201d and encouraged people to limit their intake of certain substances to avoid being raped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That same month he covered up a tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol, saying he got the tattoo while in the Marines in 2007 and did not know the skull-and-crossbones figure was associated with Nazis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the following months polling indicated he was still a favorite among Democratic voters in Maine, to the point that Democratic Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, though, Mills said she is \u201cstill on the ballot\u201d for the June 9 primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople have the impression that I \u2018withdrew\u2019 or \u2018dropped out,\u2019\u201d Mills said in an interview in The Portland Press Herald. \u201cI simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collins, R-Maine, also responded to the reports Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, I really don\u2019t have anything to add,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery day there\u2019s a new revelation about Graham Platner that reflects on his character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n