The wife of Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner, Amy Gertner, has said she is “deeply hurt” following revelations about her husband’s alleged extramarital sexting, accusing a former campaign aide of breaching her trust.
Her statement came after reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal revealed that shortly after Platner launched his Senate bid last year, Gertner alerted campaign staff to sexual text messages exchanged between her husband and other women.
“I know who Graham is,” Gertner said in a statement shared through the campaign. “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.”
Genevieve McDonald, who previously served as political director on Platner’s campaign, confirmed to CNN that Gertner had informed her last year about the messages and that the campaign considered the issue a possible political risk.
According to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Gertner raised concerns in August after discovering messages allegedly exchanged during the early period of their marriage, as the campaign was conducting internal vetting.
CNN said it has not independently verified the messages, though it confirmed an account on the Kik messaging platform that appears linked to Platner. The account, under the username “phustle0331,” reportedly includes a shirtless bathroom profile photo of Platner and handles similar to those used on his now-deleted social media pages.
Gertner, in her statement, said she had confided in someone she trusted within the campaign.
“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 — and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy,” she added.
Platner, a former Marine with no previous political experience, has faced growing scrutiny since entering the race to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins.
His campaign previously came under fire after reports emerged that he had a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi-era symbol, which he said he got in his youth while serving in the military and did not initially understand. He has since covered the tattoo.
However, later reporting by CNN’s KFile challenged his explanation, citing a 2019 social media post in which he discussed the “Totenkopf” skull-and-crossbones symbol and its use among some military personnel.
Additional reports have also highlighted earlier remarks by Platner in which he referred to himself as a “communist” and described police as “bastards,” comments he has since disavowed.
