Hello,
When my wife Amy and I first talked about me running for the U.S. Senate against Susan Collins, we understood that at some point the establishment was going to turn on the machine and try to rip our lives apart. We knew that was coming. We baked that into the calculus.
I will say: Now that it’s started, it’s not fun. It’s been a very unpleasant experience. It’s definitely not enjoyable to have people with money and power and resources rip your entire existence apart, get every national media outlet involved, and put anything and everything out there. It’s fairly brutal.
But here’s the thing they don’t get: I’m not in this race for the establishment. I’m in this because I still believe. I’m in this because I still have hope for a better future. I’m in this because we need a better politics in this country.
We need a politics that is accessible to working people. Accessible to normal people. And this is why people don’t run for office or get involved: Because getting your life ripped apart — having everything you ever did or said wrong dragged out — it’s painful. Amy and I feel like we’re strong enough to do it. So here we are. We’re going to keep doing it. And together, with your help, we are going to defeat Susan Collins.
This is bigger than my name getting dragged through the mud. This is bigger than people making things up about me or lying about me. None of that matters compared to what we’re building. What matters is changing politics into something that is not only for working people, but actually representative of working people.
And that means we’re going to have to engage with and gain the support of people who don’t have perfect backgrounds. Who once said or did things that they no longer believe or are proud of. We’re going to have to get people whose lives have changed. People who once held opinions they don’t hold any longer. Because people evolve and grow. And to me, that’s the whole point of existing really. To become a better person than you were yesterday.
If the Democratic party is ever going to build power and have a politics that reflects everyday Americans, we need a politics that is open to that.
I’ll admit, this has been a hard month. I’ve had to explain things I never thought I’d have to explain. I’ve had to talk about difficult things I experienced in the Marines that I’ve only ever discussed in therapy before. And I’ve also had to talk about my journey as a human being. Because I’m not going to sit here and say I never once held beliefs I don’t hold today. I did. I once believed things, thought things, and used language that I would never use today. Because I was in a different point in my life. One I am not proud of.
Through my lived experience — meeting people who had different lived experiences than me, realizing everybody is shaped by the world they inhabit — I changed. The more compassionate and open and empathetic you can be to other people’s experiences, the more you learn that we all come at this life in very different ways.
We are never going to reach common ground as a society if we are not open to changing our thoughts. To accepting new ideas, new logic, new facts that we just haven’t interacted with before.
I am proud of who I am today. I’m confident in the politics I’m trying to push. But I didn’t get here without living my life. I didn’t get here without the struggles in my background. If it wasn’t for the fact that I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, if it wasn’t for the fact that I struggled with that afterward, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve lived a life that took me around the world and let me see other people’s experiences… Then I would not be where I am today.
I am not ashamed of who I am today. And I think it’s important for all of us to look at human beings as capable of change and capable of evolving.
What I’ll also say is this: I’m not going to change my policies. I’m not going to change my opinions on what we need to be building here. I am still now who I was when I started this campaign two and a half months ago. That isn’t going to change. I am different from who I was in an earlier part of my life, sure. But what we are trying to accomplish now? This is what I deeply believe, and I am committed to this campaign and to defeating Susan Collins.
I’ve been asked a lot, “Are you turning into a John Fetterman? Are you changing your opinions?” Because people are seeing things in the news that don’t look like what I believe. And what I tell them is this: Start to get worried if I change who I am now. Start to get worried if I change my policies. If I start walking back words like “genocide.” If I start walking back Medicare for All. That’s when you should get worried. That’s when you should be angry at me. But that’s not going to happen.
So please don’t fall for the tricks. The DC establishment is going to put a bunch of stuff in headlines to try to undercut us and make people think I’m something different than what I am. But if you go to our website and the policies are still the same, if you see me in a video on social media and I’m still talking about the same fights and the same ideas of building power for working people… Then I ask you to double down on your support for our movement and our campaign.
There’s been dark moments for me over the last few weeks. I was terrified that everyone might believe the lies. I was terrified of holding our next town hall and that the room would be empty. I was terrified that I’d had my life ripped apart for nothing. I was terrified that, once again, Susan Collins, the oligarchy, AIPAC, and the establishment would win. And instead, everybody has been overwhelmingly supportive. That has meant a lot.
Thank you all very much for still being here. I’m not giving up the fight to take on the DC political establishment and defeat Susan Collins. I hope you aren’t either.
In solidarity,
Graham Platner