Sexting, half-naked photos on hookup app shake US Democrat’s Senate campaign

Democrat candidate and ex-Marine Corps Graham Platner’s campaign for the US Senate in Maine was picking up pace before it got derailed by public revelations of sexually explicit messages with several women. Current and former campaign officials said Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told a senior aide last year that he had exchanged sexual messages with several women outside their marriage, reported The New York Times.

The issue emerged on Saturday as Platner’s challenge to his opponent, Republican Senator Susan Collins, was beginning to gain traction with voters. The disclosures came at a delicate stage in a contest Democrats see as important to their hopes of winning control of the Senate in November.

Platner also appeared in a topless selfie from his account on Kik, an app widely used for hook-ups. In the image, obtained by The New York Post, he is wearing only a towel, with his upper body and several tattoos visible. His face cannot be seen in the photograph, which appears to have been taken in a bathroom mirror. The report brought fresh attention to Platner, who had already faced scrutiny over a tattoo widely recognised as a Nazi symbol.

The former political director of Platner’s campaign, Genevieve McDonald, told The New York Times that Gertner contacted her out of fear back in 2025, revealing that her husband’s past could become a political liability and revealed that he had been sexting with at least 12 women.

Another person involved with the campaign said Platner had been sexting with six women, though the behaviour had ceased before the campaign started. The person added that the issue surfaced during the campaign’s internal vetting process, when Gertner disclosed to McDonald her husband’s past indiscretions. The campaign official further told The New York Times that Gertner said the couple had undergone counselling and moved on from the episode.

Gertner later responded in a campaign statement, saying she felt betrayed by McDonald and was upset by what she called “the invasion of our privacy”. “I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said. “I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind.” “Our marriage today is stronger than ever before. I know the man I married and the husband. He has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t,” she added.

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