Exclusive: Graham Platner Signals Peace with Chuck Schumer in Maine US Senate Fight

Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic U.S. Senate nominee for Maine, told Newsweek he’d spoken to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and plans to work with the party establishment—with conditions. Schumer and the DSCC, which is headed by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, all endorsed his primary opponent, Governor Janet Mills, who they viewed as a marquee recruit, creating a major rift within the Democratic Party as it aims to take back majorities in the House and Senate in the midterms this November. The ill will at times grew personal. As Platner began pulling ahead of Mils in the race, her campaign released an ad where several women spoke against Platner due to controversial remarks he’d made online. Speaking with Newsweek on Friday at an AFL-CIO endorsement event in Portland, Platner said he’d made peace with Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who’d backed his primary opponent Mills. “Last night, I spoke with Senator Schumer. He called me and congratulated me on a well-run race, and I said, ‘thank you very much,’” he said. “It is rather amazing how wanting to defeat Susan Collins can really bring a lot of people together. We can find a lot of common ground,