Portland, Maine — Graham Blattner, the insurgent Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, will hold his first major campaign rally on Friday evening. Reports keep coming in About his history with women.
Last weekend, his campaign was plagued by stories about sexually explicit messages Blattner sent to several women during his marriage. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported on his relationships with his ex-girlfriends. Some viewed him favorably while others described him as volatile and insulting.
One woman said Blattner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Plattner described this claim as incorrect.
But with the Maine primary approaching on Tuesday, Democrats… Desperate to get behind a candidate Who can defeat Republican Senator Susan Collins in November? There was little sign of voters or political allies turning away from Blatner, who presented himself as an imperfect person who had redeemed himself.
Some rejected the news of text messages and considered it a private matter that should be dealt with only by the couple. Others believe that the need for Democrats to regain control of the US Senate from Republicans is so important that incomplete candidates cannot be excluded.
However, they are also grappling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Blatner could emerge before the November election.
“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, Democratic Party chairman in Piscataquis County, Maine. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. So what do we do?”
Blatner is key to Democrats’ hopes of regaining the US Senate this year. However, he was disturbed by the almost constant disputes regarding the revelation of his secrets A tattoo has since been covered of a Nazi symboland his history of inflammatory online comments and revealing text messages.
However, Blatner’s most prominent supporters continued to support the candidate, including Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ruben Gallego. Blatner is scheduled to appear in Bar Harbor on Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and governor, as part of a “Get Out the Vote” rally in the seaside resort.
The event comes just days before the state’s June 9 primary, where Blatner is expected to secure the Democratic nomination. His biggest rival, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.
He will do so under renewed scrutiny amid reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have done so. I had marital difficulties and sought counseling After he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gaertner informed the campaign in August about the messages she discovered on his phone last year, to ensure they did not pose a liability to the campaign. Blatner’s campaign team reportedly determined that the text messages were private and were being handled by the couple, who married in 2023.
Genevieve McDonald, a former Blatner campaign staffer, told the Associated Press that the candidate had been “sexting multiple women during their marriages” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as a weakness in the election.”
Shortly after the news broke, Blattner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s text messages, but called the wider coverage “gossip” and said “marriage is hard.”
Gertner’s emotional comments about working on her marriage resonated with some women, who said they were shocked that a former campaign aide could betray someone’s trust and the issue should remain between the couple.
“This is none of my business to me,” said Joan Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I hope people don’t judge anyone by their own marriage.”
Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, called Gaertner’s honesty about trying to work on their mental health and their marriage admirable.
“This is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “This is integrity. Personal growth is not deprivation from public life. For many of us, that is exactly what made us worthy.”
However, Tate admitted that her mind wasn’t completely at ease. As the public continues to learn about Blatner’s past, there’s a chance something could emerge that will be a deal-breaker for voters.
“Of course, there is that anxiety because there will be in any race with someone we don’t know all the drama and journeys they’ve been on,” she wrote. “Something might come out that would result in disqualification.”
This is not the first time Blatner has faced questions about his past. He had The tattoo has been recognized as a Nazi symbolWhich he had covered up after starting his election campaign.
Blattner said he didn’t realize what the tattoo meant. However, a former friend told The Times that he joked about her being a Nazi symbol and called her a “Totenkopf.”
There has also been a lot of interest in Blattner’s previous Reddit posts, in which he denounced military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he apologized.
Blattner has never held elected office, and has mounted an outspoken, progressive, and populist campaign focused on issues such as income inequality, lack of access to health care and the high cost of housing. In contrast, Trump attracted thousands to his rallies and campaign events and raised millions in campaign funds to further bolster his messages.
“People want someone new,” said Paige Ziegler, a former Democratic state representative from Maine and chair of the Waldo County Democratic Party. She talked about why Platner’s authority remains strong. “They want someone they feel they can embrace. And Blattner is riding that wave.” ___
Croci reported from Providence, Rhode Island.