Maine primary election results: Platner will win Democratic Senate primary, ABC News projects
Graham Platner is expected to be Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee, ABC News projects.
Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran from Hancock County, is now slated to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November’s general election. It is expected to be among the most-watched races of the midterm elections as Democrats look to flip the Senate.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills was also on the Democratic Senate primary ballot, as was former Maryland state official David Costello. However, Mills suspended her campaign in late April citing limited financial resources, and a University of New Hampshire poll published in late May found that Costello was “largely unknown."
Platner has a primary campaign focused in part on ending wealth inequality. He was endorsed early by prominent New England progressives such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
After Mills suspended her campaign, prominent Democratic leaders such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, backed Platner.
He fought controversies throughout his primary campaign, ranging from him once getting a tattoo allegedly resembling a Nazi symbol to allegations published by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal claiming he sent sexually explicit texts to women.
Platner acknowledged that he previously went through a “very dark period” of his life and was “a far from perfect boyfriend.” During a rally in Bar Harbor, Maine, last Friday, he said that "every single piece" of his past and journey was being "dug up, litigated and weaponized.”
See live election results below:
