Topline<\/p>\n
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said on Sunday that Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, has \u201cquestions to answer\u201d following reports that Platner\u2019s wife flagged to his campaign sexually explicit texts Platner sent to other women. <\/p>\n
Platner\u2019s wife called reports of the sexually explicit texts \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reservedKey Facts<\/p>\n
\u201cI have concerns,\u201d Booker told ABC News on Sunday when asked if Platner could jeopardize Democrats\u2019 control of the Senate, adding, \u201cThat guy has questions to answer. That\u2019s what campaigns are for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Booker\u2019s comments come after the Wall Street Journal<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a> reported that Amy Gertner, who married Platner in 2023, told Platner\u2019s Senate campaign last year about sexually explicit texts he sent to several women, to ensure they didn\u2019t impact his campaign.<\/p>\n Former Maine state legislator Genevieve McDonald, who also served as the Platner campaign\u2019s political director before leaving in October, told the Times that Gertner reached out to her before a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., indicating Platner exchanged texts with as many as a dozen women.<\/p>\n McDonald told the Times the Senate is \u201cnot a training ground for redemption,\u201d and instead a \u201cplace for proven leaders with moral clarity and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n Platner\u2019s campaign released a video<\/a> from Gertner on Saturday, in which Gertner said she was \u201creally angry, disappointed\u201d that her disclosure was made public and that she \u201c[finds] it really shameful that there\u2019s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on.\u201d<\/p>\n Platner\u2019s Controversies\u2014from Reddit Posts To A Nazi Tattoo<\/p>\n Platner was criticized last year after some of his past social media posts resurfaced, including some in which he reportedly<\/a> referred to himself as a \u201ccommunist,\u201d called white rural people racist and stupid and encouraged people not to use substances to avoid being raped. Platner apologized for the posts and said he was \u201cdeeply sorry,\u201d pointing to the \u201cdisillusionment\u201d he felt when he returned home after serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Platner also drew criticism after a video surfaced of him shirtless with a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol. Platner told<\/a> \u201cPod Save America\u201d he was \u201cnot a Nazi\u201d and was a \u201clifelong opponent\u201d of Nazism, suggesting he got the tattoo while \u201cvery inebriated\u201d while he was a Marine in 2007 and that he was unaware of its Nazi links. He covered<\/a> the tattoo up in October after promising to have it removed. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., told CNN<\/a> last week he believed the tattoo should still be \u201cpersonally disqualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer, emerged as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine after Gov. Janet Mills dropped out in April. He has been endorsed by several Democrats, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., And Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who reiterated his support for Platner after reports of his texts emerged Saturday, writing<\/a> on X he was \u201cproud\u201d of Platner for \u201chaving the character to stand up against the war in Iran, against Genocide, and against an unfair and lopsided economy.\u201d Platner will challenge Maine\u2019s long-time Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. <\/p>\n Further Reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said on Sunday that Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,37003,88,246428,295186,295187],"class_list":["post-676809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-cory-booker","tag-entertainment","tag-graham-platner","tag-platner","tag-platner-sexts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}