Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner’s wife admitted to his campaign that he had sent sexually explicit texts to women early in their marriage, according to multiple reports.
“People familiar with the matter” told the Wall Street Journal that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, reportedly shared with an aide in August that she had found the sexually explicit messages “early in their marriage in the spring of 2025.”
Gertner’s admission to sending the messages came as “some aides were conducting opposition research on their own candidate.” The aides’ opposition research on Platner came as “the campaign had been preparing for a major rally” with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), according to the outlet.
A campaign official explained that “Aides ultimately decided the texts were a private matter that was being handled by the couple in marriage counseling.”
Gertner explained in a statement that she had thought “She was confiding in an aide she considered a friend,” adding that she and her husband “did the hard work that marriage requires.”
“We went to counseling,” Gertner added. “We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built.”
Gertner added that their “marriage today is stronger than ever,” and that she knows the man she married and “the husband he has been” to her.
The outlet also shared that Platner “has an active account on Kik, a popular, private messaging app,” with the user ID, phustle0331. Platner’s profile picture is reportedly a “mirror selfie of him shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist,” according to the outlet.
Platner’s campaign explained that while he had “long deleted the app,” he had not deactivated his account.
According to a report from Forbes, the Kik messaging app “has been the center of numerous pedophilia scandals,” the New York Post reported.
Genevieve McDonald, who had previously served as the political director for Platner’s campaign, told the New York Times Gertner “told her that her husband had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women.”
However, a “current” campaign worker explained to the outlet that “Platner had been communicating with up to six women.”
In a video posted to X, Gertner expressed that it made her “really angry” and “disappointed” that there were news outlets and people “willing to spread gossip,” rather than talking about the issues Platner is running on.
“If anybody knows me and Graham personally, you know that we got married in 2023. We live in Sullivan. We’ve got two dogs, and we love each other deeply. So, it makes me really angry. Disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on, like healthcare and education, and childcare,” Gertner said.
Gertner added: “No marriage is perfect. I don’t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage. I want to be married to Graham. I knew the man that I married is wonderful, and dynamic, and probably a genius. I knew the man that I married had been through an immense amount of violent, active combat, and he’s been in therapy for years.”
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