The Maine Senate is hopeful Graham Platner He promised to investigate the President Donald TrumpA second term in office if he wins in November.
The oyster farmer leads fellow Gov. Janet Mills in multiple polls ahead of the June 9 election and is upping the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collinsin the race for individual consideration ahead of the November midterm elections.
Platner has run on a staunchly anti-Trump platform, making him one of the leading voices calling for an investigation into the president’s handling of the Iran War, nationwide immigration crackdown and the faltering economy.
On April 7, 2026, Rep John Larsonof Connecticut’s first district, presented 13 articles of impeachment against Trump in the House of Representatives.
While impeachment documents are unlikely to pass the House Judiciary Committee, Larson said Trump “passed all the requirements for impeachment” by threatening on April 7 that “all civilization” in Iran would end unless the Strait of Hormuz was opened. (Trump then agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Iran through Pakistan’s intervention.)
Calls to impeach him came from outside Washington DC as well. Hollywood icons Robert De Niro again Meryl Streep both have publicly called for legal action against Trump if Democrats win the 2026 midterm elections, while a core group of former presidents’ supporters — including Candace Owens, Alex Jones again Tucker Carlson – they also criticized his behavior recently. (Trump called the trio “stupid people” during a Truth Social shootout on April 9.)
Keep scrolling to find out more about Platner’s campaign promises about Trump and his background.
Graham Platner Has Called for an Investigation of President Donald Trump
Speaking to NBC News in April 2025, Platner vowed to block the Trump administration’s policies if he won the Maine Senate seat.
“I want to shut down the White House,” Platner said. “I want, in the next two years, to pull every single person in the White House, every single person in all of these agencies who have been behaving in an illegal and unconstitutional manner. They need to be dragged in front of the Senate committees over and over again.”
He accused the administration of “killing” with “dropp[ing] a number of boats bombed in the Caribbean last fall” as part of “Operation Southern Spear” against drug traffickers in late 2025.
Campaign signs for the 2026 Maine Senate race.
Sophie Park/Getty Images“We are arresting people who are involved in putting ICE on our streets, killing American citizens, terrorizing communities,” Platner emphasized.
He also accused the Trump administration of “corruption at the highest level” and said the president had committed “crimes” that could not be avoided.
As for whether he would support impeachment, Platner told NBC News, “I will say this, though: If we don’t have the votes in the Senate to impeach, I don’t think we should waste our time on it.”
Graham Platner Wants to Make Fundamental Changes to the Supreme Court
Platner told NBC News in April 2026 that there is a “compelling case” to pursue impeachment against conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas again Samuel Alito. (Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House and two-thirds support in the Senate.)
“[There] are the specific reasons for removal,” he said.
A Maine politician won’t reject support efforts to “fill the court,” or change the number of Supreme Court justices to achieve a balance of opinions.
“[I’m] “We are definitely open to doing more, including adding more seats to the court,” said Platner.
Graham Platner Talks About Offensive Tattoo
An oyster farmer who lives in Maine, he grew up in the coastal town of Sullivan. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003 and served three combat tours in Iraq throughout his military career.
He told “The Takeout” podcast” in April 2026 that he came out of the war “in a place of unmanly violence.” Platner confirmed that he and other Marines got a skull-and-bones tattoo while on leave in Croatia, not knowing it had a Nazi image. (He’s since had an offensive tattoo covered up.)
“Once I went and went out [I] he explained: “Many of those beliefs and thoughts and even just the language changed a lot over time.”
Graham Platner Paused His IVF Campaign With His Wife
Platner announced in January 2026 that he would suspend his campaign to accompany his wife, Amy Gertnerwith in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment in Norway. (Platner tied the knot with Gertner, a school teacher and paid campaign consultant, in 2024.)
“The cost of this [treatment] in the United States the money is astronomical, $25,000 for the first attempt,” he explained in the campaign video.
Platner and Gertner explained that they wanted treatment in Norway because one cycle of IVF treatment costs only $5,500 there.
“Graham has a great sperm,” Gertner said in the video. “Infertility was part of my body.”
The senator noted that her experience with Gertner on the cost of IVF inspired her to “build strength to be able to get things that working people in this country need, like a health care system that provides assisted reproduction.”
Graham Platner Sees Himself as Successor to Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders
Vermont Bernie Sandersa progressive stalwart in the Senate, has officially endorsed Platner’s Maine campaign in August 2025 and has appeared at rallies with him.
“If you listen to how we talk about planning, if you look at our political theory about wealth inequality, our political theory about how the system is designed to benefit the very rich at the expense of working people — I feel like I’m falling into the legacy of Senator Sanders,” Platner told NBC News. “I really want to see this policy continue until now, that’s why I’m doing this.”
