AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

Voters in Maine are heading to the polls Tuesday for a closely watched primary that could help determine whether Democrats retake control of the U.S. Senate. On the Republican side, Susan Collins is running unopposed as she seeks her sixth term in the Senate. On the Democratic side, 41-year-old oysterman and Marine vet Graham Platner has led the polls for months, running as a progressive populist, backed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Ro Khanna and others. On the campaign trail, Platner has repeatedly targeted the billionaire class and called for a wealth tax, Medicare for All and other progressive policies. In late April, Maine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign after polls showed Platner easily beating her in the primary, but Governor Mills never officially withdrew, and her name remains on the ballot.

Since launching his campaign, Platner has faced numerous controversies, many stemming from his actions in the years after returning from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, a time when he says he was suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and was self-medicating with alcohol. The initial controversies focused on old posts Platner made on Reddit, and on a tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Platner says he got the tattoo while on military leave in Croatia 20 years ago, and has denied knowing about the design’s association with Nazis. He’s apologized for the social media posts, saying they were written at, quote, “a time in my life where I was struggling deeply,” unquote.

In recent weeks, two more scandals emerged. First, it was revealed he had sent sexually explicit text messages to at least six women after getting married in 2023. Then The New York Times published an article headlined “Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall 'Unsettling' Behavior,” unquote. On Thursday, Platner, interviewed by Chris Hayes on MS NOW, said this.

GRAHAM PLATNER: There are some allegations in this piece that, I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who is politically motivated. In this piece, there’s a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating with alcohol, and I’ve been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign that that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service. And that’s what that combat service — that’s what that kind of life looks like. And so, there are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months now. But those serious allegations are just not true.

CHRIS HAYES: You did not grab her by the wrist. You did not put your hands on her shoulders. You did not push her into a room that you closed the door on. She’s — she’s lying about that —

GRAHAM PLATNER: No.

CHRIS HAYES: — is what you’re saying.

GRAHAM PLATNER: Yes, that is not true.

AMY GOODMAN: On Friday, Graham Platner campaigned in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he took aim at the nation’s billionaires.

GRAHAM PLATNER: In the time in my life where that hard work ceased being enough, we have also watched the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to the ruling class in the history of this nation. In 1990, there were fewer than 80 billionaires in the United States. Today, there are over 900.

CROWD: Boo!

GRAHAM PLATNER: I ask you: When you look around, do you see a state of Maine that is 10 times wealthier than 1990?

CROWD: No!

GRAHAM PLATNER: Do we have 10 times the schools?

CROWD: No!

GRAHAM PLATNER: Ten times the hospitals?

CROWD: No!

GRAHAM PLATNER: Do our paychecks go 10 times as far?

CROWD: No!

GRAHAM PLATNER: Do we have 10 times the free time?

CROWD: No!

GRAHAM PLATNER: No. In fact, we have less, fewer schools, fewer hospitals. Our paychecks run out earlier in the month. And we have less time, because everybody’s working harder.

AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna also spoke at the Graham Platner Bar Harbor rally on Friday. On Sunday, he appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation and was questioned about Platner by host Margaret Brennan.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Can he survive another scandal? You have five months here.

REP. RO KHANNA: Well, it depends what. I’m not — you know, I mean, obviously, if there was any evidence that comes out that there is actual domestic violence or assault, I have zero tolerance for that. I led the fight against the Epstein class, which has been a cover-up —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REP. RO KHANNA: — for sexual abuse, with Thomas Massie. I’ve been at the forefront of championing women’s rights and rights of survivors. But here you have a case of someone who had a dark chapter in his life, was in toxic relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this country. And the Maine voters are saying, “Look, let’s give him some grace.” And his focus — 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

REP. RO KHANNA: — is stopping these wars, and it’s getting national health insurance, and it’s taking on economic inequality.

AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about Graham Platner’s run for the Senate, we’ll be joined by two guests. In a moment, we’ll go to Portland, Maine, to speak with the antiracist organizer Shay Stewart-Bouley. But first, we’re joined by Kim Villanueva, the national president of the National Organization for Women PAC.

Kim, thanks so much for being with us. Talk about the race, what you’re concerned about and why you’re telling people to vote for Governor Mills, who actually, while she didn’t pull out of the Senate race, she did suspend her campaign and, even with these controversies, didn’t reenter, with rallies like Platner is having right now, to take on Senator Collins.

KIM VILLANUEVA: Right. Well, we endorsed Governor Mills very early in the race because of her record on women’s rights and women’s issues and the fact that she has shown leadership over time. She’s been a district attorney, attorney general and a governor. And we feel that her record is the best, and her leadership is the best to represent women.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about your concerns with Graham Platner right now. You heard, for example, Ro Khanna saying he’s the leader on demanding respect for the women in the case of Epstein and the release of the Epstein files, but he is supporting Platner right now for his progressive position.

KIM VILLANUEVA: Right. Well, we’ve also worked with Representative Khanna on the Epstein files, and certainly on defending the survivors of sexual violence and sexual abuse. In this situation, just because someone holds a progressive policy position doesn’t excuse them for making or holding harmful views against women. Hate speech is hate speech. And so, that’s what NOW is about. We call out statements against women. We want women to — we want people to respect women. We have a president who thinks it’s OK to make nasty comments about women and make fun of women. And so, when that happens, we call it out.

AMY GOODMAN: The question — one of the questions is: Who can beat the Republican, Susan Collins, who supported, for example, the nomination of and the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justice? Let me go to a clip right now. This is Graham Platner speaking in Bar Harbor.

GRAHAM PLATNER: We are up against one of the most powerful political systems in the history of the world. It is a system of billionaires and special interests. It is a system of corrupted politicians like Susan Collins — Susan Collins, who for years has given us some charade that she’s a moderate, that she stands up against her party, that she cares about her constituents more than she cares about those that donate money to her. We see through it. We see through the charade. And we see through it because of what she does. She voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, who, before he was busy dismantling the Voting Rights Act and taking voting rights away from Black Southerners, he was busy getting down to the work he went there for, which was dismantling a woman’s right to choose. And she told us — she told us that that was settled law. She looked him in the eyes, and he told her that he would never do such a thing. Well, either she lied to us, or she’s a fool. Either way, you shouldn’t be a United States senator from the state of Maine.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Graham Platner. Are you concerned that NOW’s position could help elect Susan Collins?

KIM VILLANUEVA: Well, NOW endorsed Governor Mills very early in the race because of her record. And the purpose of an endorsement is to lead, not to follow. So we stand by that endorsement and feel that she’s still the best candidate on the ballot. In terms of who’s going to take on Trump and the establishment and the systems of oppression, we think that it’s Janet Mills. She’s already shown that she has taken on Trump. When he threatened to pull federal funding from Maine, she looked him in the eye and said, “I’ll see you in court.” So, that’s leadership under pressure. We think that she’s the best one to take on the systems that are hurting American families and American women.

AMY GOODMAN: She did stand up against Trump pulling federal funds from Maine over trans athletes, support for trans athletes. But right now, even as Governor Mills said she hasn’t pulled out of the race, she only suspended it, it’s not as if she is campaigning. What will that mean in the general election if she takes the position she does, and Susan Collins vigorously campaigns?

KIM VILLANUEVA: Well, I think that by winning the primary will invigorate the campaign, and certainly people will come out and want to support anyone who’s going to take on Trump and anyone who’s going to help women, children, families. I mean, we’re all suffering under the Trump regime. We have to do something. And we think that Janet Mills is the best person to lead us to do that.

AMY GOODMAN: Kim Villanueva, we want to thank you for being with us, national president — 

KIM VILLANUEVA: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: — of the National Organization for Women PAC.

To talk more about the Maine primary and Graham Platner’s campaign, we go now to Peaks Island, off of Portland, Maine, where we’re joined by the longtime antiracism organizer Shay Stewart-Bouley, the executive director of Community Change, Inc.

Shay, thanks so much for being with us. A lot has come out on Graham Platner, from the tattoo that he has emblazoned on his chest to the most recent New York Times exposé on some of the women he was romantically involved with, questioning his behavior. Can you talk about your thoughts, as Graham Platner just had a major rally in Portland?

SHAY STEWART-BOULEY: Yes, I can. Good morning, and thank you, Amy, for having me.

I have so many thoughts, as someone who has been following the Platner campaign really since that first day, when that first video was released, and was very cautiously enthusiastic, perhaps, about him, who then, after the initial revelations in October of the Reddit post and the tattoo, became quite skeptical. It was after then that I actually met up with Graham, and we had a conversation. And over the course of the probably last several months, we’ve had a series of conversations and observations.

And I think what’s interesting about this race and about Graham is that, in Maine, I would say a lot of people have a very different perspective of him than what the national media is showing. I think that despite his controversies, he is really speaking to the people of Maine at this moment. As I’ve been writing and I wrote recently, it is estimated that one in two Mainers are struggling to make ends meet. Nationally, I think people think of Maine as this — you know, it’s nicknamed “Vacationland,” so people think that everybody here is probably quite prosperous, and actually that’s the opposite. It’s a rural state. It’s a state that doesn’t have a lot of resources. It’s a state where, honestly, it is not uncommon for people to work two or three jobs, seasonal jobs. And so, I think that, you know, one of the reasons people have continued to support Platner despite these controversies is because, for the first time in a long time, he makes people feel heard. I only recently heard him speak to an audience, because my interactions with him had been primarily one on one. I had heard about how he — when he speaks to a crowd. But I have to say it was really interesting to experience hearing him and seeing, more importantly, the audience, how enthusiastic they were at the same time. I live on Peaks Island, Maine. It’s a predominantly very white little enclave island here. We have a few folks of color, and it’s a community that people would probably think of as fairly prosperous. And yet, he was really connecting with them.

I think, as a person, he is absolutely complicated and messy. There is no getting around that. He’s a very complicated, messy individual, who, I think, if these were more normal times, I think the campaign would have tanked probably several scandals ago. But I think that given the current reality of the country we’re running in, with the folks running in it, people are feeling a little bit more generous in forgiving his personal situations.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s hear Graham Platner speaking last night in Portland.

GRAHAM PLATNER: We need to return to the politics of dreaming big, because the challenges we face today, we can no longer afford to play around in the margins. We’ve been doing that, and it has failed us. We need universal healthcare in this country, Medicare for All. We need universal childcare. We need a public education system that provides high-quality education to every young American, from kindergarten all the way through higher ed and trade schools. … And we need a foreign policy that prioritizes international institutions and international law over the well-being of corporate interests,

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Graham Platner speaking last night in Portland. If you can talk about the allegations of several women who he dated, one of them being a Republican operative? I mean, she says it herself. She runs Ladies for Kavanaugh, now the Supreme Court justice. The significance of this, and what the allegations are, and those who say it’s not enough to say he suffers from PTSD? Certainly, Ro Khanna talked about the damages of war, and Platner himself talks about what it means that war is violence and how veterans have suffered, but that you have to take responsibility for how you act afterwards.

SHAY STEWART-BOULEY: Yes. Yes, you do. Like many folks, you know, I read the piece in The New York Times a few minutes after it dropped, and I will say I really struggled initially with what I was reading. I think, for me, I believe in restorative justice. The nature of the work that I do just within the world of antiracism work allows for restorative justice. And so, life is not an either-or; it’s more of a both-and, and really asking, for myself: Do we believe — do I believe that people even deserve a second chance?

First and foremost, these are serious allegations. I don’t think — there’s no excuse for the harm that he caused these women. I think that if I were to say one thing, I would love to hear him speak more about ways in which he can make amends to the women he’s harmed. He needs to be held accountable to those women.

At the same time, we find ourselves in this very, very awkward situation in the state of Maine, and really in the state of the country. Eighteen months into the second term of Trump, we have watched our country turned upside down in ways that we have never imagined. And so, we find ourselves with — in the case of the Maine Senate race, we have a candidate who most certainly inspires people. I know when I went to his public event here on Peaks, I saw young folks of color who had taken the ferry over just to hear him speak.

We also — and I’m sorry, I just completely lost my thought there. I think that we have to reckon with the reality of war and violence. I was thinking about it this morning, knowing that, you know, this would probably be a part of the conversation. In some ways, I see Platner as sort of the result of this country, that we send people to war, they come back, and then we don’t do a lot for those people. But more than that, when we talk about violence, in this case, there is personal violence, but then we also have state violence. We have someone who went to war suffering from the effects of state violence, who has now inflicted violence upon folks personally. And so, it really becomes a very messy situation in terms of: How do we reckon with that? How do we figure out how to go forward?

I think — I think, in this moment, what’s hardest for people to gather and to understand — and it most certainly is something that I’ve struggled with, given everything that we’ve seen going on in this country — is the fact that, historically, we’ve expected our politicians — we’ve held them to a certain standard. We’ve expected certain behavior. And I would say, you know, in the years since Trump, all of that has been turned upside down. I think, over on the left, we’ve held ourselves to a standard that we don’t want to be anything like those folks. And so, here we have this person who is a messy, walking contradiction. On the one hand, he has values in terms of what he’s putting out there, that speaks to us, but his personal life is messy. So, it’s one of those: What do we do? And in this moment, I ask myself, “Do we discard him?”

I know your previous guest spoke a lot to his opponent, Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign and is now — you know, last week, reminded us all that she is still on the ballot. And I know, as a Mainer, as a Mainer of color, I don’t see her track record as being quite as rosy as somebody on a national level might. Just a couple of things I want to mention. Just recently, she vetoed LD 1911 this year, which was the clean slate law, which really would have given folks with a criminal background in certain cases a second chance. There was also the other veto that she did, LD 307, which would have placed a moratorium on state and local governments issuing permits for data centers. As we know, the conversation of data centers is really big across the country. Those two vetoes alone, for many, many Maine voters, really were a turnoff. So, again, the national perspective on Janet Mills versus the reality on the ground are two different things.

And I think, for many people, Maine voters, that’s left people really conflicted. I mean, we do have two other candidates: a write-in candidate who, of course, isn’t on the ballot but has been campaigning really hard, and then we have one other gentleman on the ballot, David Costello, who many people just don’t know who he is. So, Mainers find themselves in a really tough situation in terms of this is a person who is saying the things that we want to hear, and at the same time we’re hearing these allegations in their personal life that are pretty disturbing.

I can say that when it came down to my deciding whether or not I wanted to support him, I knew if there were any criminal act, you know, allegations, that was not something I was going to do. I’m still not comfortable with what I’ve heard. At the same time, it feels like, while we can say, “Is it an excuse?” the PTSD from the war, it is also a reality that many people returning from war do face.

AMY GOODMAN: Shay Stewart-Bouley, I want to thank you for being with us, longtime antiracism activist in Maine, executive director of Community Change, Inc.

Coming up, we go to Peru, where Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru’s former imprisoned dictator, has a slight lead over her progressive challenger, Roberto Sánchez, in Peru’s presidential runoff. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “You Know That Dog Gon Bite” by Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band at the Brooklyn Folk Festival.