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Hello,

Last night at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, I spoke to an absolutely packed crowd of 600 Mainers who came out on a Wednesday night to hear our campaign’s positive message and learn how we are going to defeat Susan Collins.

[[link removed]]It was the 24th public town hall like this that our campaign has held. Which is 24 more than Susan Collins – because she still has not held a single town hall since Bill Clinton was president.

If the DC political establishment thinks that they can handpick Maine's next senator, they have got another thing coming. We aren’t going to be told by Donald Trump, Chuck Schumer, the oligarchs, or some corporate-funded Super PAC who can and cannot be a United States senator.

Because if we want to defeat Susan Collins, we need to try something new. Clearly, the same old tired playbook will not work. And there is simply too much at stake to lose.

* Fighting fascism is at stake.
* Stopping masked secret police from kidnapping Americans is at stake.
* Medicare for All is at stake.
* Getting corporate influence out of politics is at stake.
* Preventing a continued genocide is at stake.
* The rights of the LGBTQ+ community are at stake.
* The rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies are stake.
* The rights of workers to organize are at stake.
* Our very democracy is at stake.

But the same politicians and political class that sent me to Iraq and Afghanistan are not fighting for these things right now. Instead, their only response is to try to crush candidates like me who actually will go down to Washington and fight for the kinds of big structural change that this moment in our history demands.

I will always be honest with you: There have been moments over the past few days that have tried to test my resolve. But before my wife and I decided to do this, we had a really hard conversation. We knew that what we were embarking on was going to destroy our lives. We knew that what we want to accomplish and what we believe in is antithetical to the current system – and that that system was going to do everything it could to crush us. And indeed, that political machine has turned on, and my life has been turned upside down.

But at the end of the day, I know that there is nothing that these people can take from me that I actually treasure in my life. They can’t take away my hometown of Sullivan, Maine. They can’t take my boats or my oyster farm. They can’t take my friends or my neighbors. They can’t take my family or my wife.

Those are the things that I take seriously. All this other stuff doesn’t matter. They can call me whatever names they want, try to rip my life apart, and insinuate whatever they want. It doesn’t matter. Because I’m not in this race for myself. I’m in this race because we must defeat Susan Collins. And if the sacrifice for us to win is going up against the DC political machine and having my name dragged through the mud – so be it.

Look, I am not going to minimize what has come out. I am not today who I always have been. Many years ago, I used to hold different opinions. I used to use different language. I once said things and believed things that today I find absolutely abhorrent.

But I also grew. I met new people. I learned of other people’s experiences. I learned that the more open I could be to listening to other people’s stories, and the more willing I was to extend compassion and empathy to others who hadn’t lived my experience… The more I realized that many of the beliefs and opinions I had were wrong. And so I changed them. It was through that journey that I became who I am today. I can say that I am ashamed of many things I once said. But I am not ashamed of who I am today.

The establishment is spooked. But if they thought that they could scare me off, if they thought that ripping my life to pieces and trying to destroy it was going to make me think that I shouldn’t still undertake this campaign… Then they clearly haven’t spent a lot of time around Marines.

From the start, this entire journey has been made easier knowing that people like you have been alongside me. And I am eternally grateful that you have continued to have my back. I will never be able to thank you enough for that.

In solidarity,

Graham Platner

P.S. We’re holding an all-hands Zoom event on Sunday at 4:00PM ET for everyone involved in this campaign. I want to give you a chance to hear from me directly as we continue moving forward. You can RSVP here. [[link removed]]DONATE [[link removed]] Paid for by Graham for MaineGraham for Maine
PO Box 574,
Blue Hill,, ME 04614
United States

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