Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner hit back hard against major national news outlets on Sunday, accusing The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal of “journalistic malpractice” following reports detailing allegations of inappropriate text messages.
The controversy stems from recently published stories claiming Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, informed campaign officials that Platner had sexted multiple women. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, reported that Gertner discovered the messages in the spring of 2025, shortly after the couple’s 2024 wedding, and later disclosed them to a campaign aide during a routine internal background check in late August to ensure they would not derail the campaign. Meanwhile, The New York Times named Genevieve McDonald, a former state legislator and the Platner campaign’s former political director, as a source for the allegations.
Platner addressed the claims directly during a TV interview with local ABC affiliate WMTV in Maine, shifting the focus toward the media’s coverage priorities.
“It’s no surprise to me that the establishment media outlets are just gonna run gossip instead of wanting to talk about the things that actually matter in this race, which are the material realities that the Mainers are working with,” Platner told the station. “These people are gonna try to make this race about anything but what it’s supposed to be about, which is policy. They never want to talk about policy. Amy and I have a very loving and very happy marriage. They would very much like to try to rip that apart.”
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When pressed by a reporter on whether the underlying stories about the text messages were factual, Platner flatly denied them.
“No, no, this is the amazing part,” Platner replied. “The Wall Street Journal and New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer. I’m sorry that’s, frankly, journalistic malpractice. We pushed back on it, they won it, they did it anyways.”
The reporter followed up, asking, “So, are you confirming that the messages did not exist?”
“I’m confirming that what Genevieve McDonald said in The New York Times is not true,” Platner stated.
When asked if he had ever met with McDonald to discuss uncomfortable sexting messages while the campaign was underway, Platner acknowledged that marital discussions took place with staff but disputed McDonald’s specific account.
“We talked about things in Amy and I’s marriage that we’ve gone through over the years,” Platner said. “We talked about that because that’s our marriage and we discussed it with the campaign. What Genevieve McDonald claims isn’t true.”
The text message allegations add to an ongoing series of controversies surrounding Platner’s candidacy. The candidate has previously faced public scrutiny and criticism over a Nazi-coded tattoo that has since been covered up, historical misogynistic and racist posts on Reddit, and the discovery of a Kik account displaying a topless photo of him wrapped in a towel.
READ: A Tattoo, A Tiff, And A TV Clashing Over A Maine Candidate’s Body Art
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