Maine Gov. Mills Launches Ad on Platner's Old Reddit Comments

Gov. Janet Mills of Maine launched a sharply critical television ad on Tuesday targeting her leading rival in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Graham Platner, as the June 9 contest intensifies in a race pivotal to national Democrats' hopes of regaining Senate control.

The 30-second spot, backed by a six-figure statewide buy on broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, features an actor reading excerpts from Platner's deleted 2013 Reddit comments on sexual assault in a voice resembling the candidate's. In one post, Platner wrote that people concerned about assault should not get so intoxicated that they end up having sex with someone they do not intend to, and should act like adults. Four women appear in the ad reacting to the remarks, describing them as "disgusting," "disqualifying" and a "horrible thing to say." The ad closes with footage of a shirtless Platner, highlighting a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that he later covered, and a narrator stating, "The closer you look, the worse it gets." Mills provides a voiceover approving the message.

Platner, a 41-year-old U.S. Marine and Army veteran who owns an oyster farm in Sullivan, Maine, apologized for the...