Hello,
There’s something that’s been on my mind a lot lately.
I truly never thought I’d run for U.S. Senate or anything even remotely close to it. I never aspired to be a politician.
When we started our campaign, I was just sharing what I always say when I talk politics with my friends and neighbors: The system is rigged. It’s rigged by corporations & billionaires and the politicians like Susan Collins they buy off. It’s rigged against working-class people to siphon off as much money as possible and take it from our pockets and put it into theirs.
That’s why we don’t have Medicare for All. That’s why we keep funding endless foreign wars. That’s why housing is so expensive and why everything at the grocery store seems to cost more, for less.
I never expected hundreds – even thousands – of people to come to our town halls. And I certainly never expected people to come up to me afterwards to tell me that I inspired them. That they had never felt heard or seen by a political candidate before. That they were moved. That they were ready to join me in the fight against the oligarchs and to finally defeat Susan Collins. But that’s what happened. Apparently someone just needed to step up and say out loud what we’ve all been thinking.
We raised more money faster than any campaign in Maine history. In a matter of weeks, 10,000 people signed up to volunteer. And we did it without a dime from corporate PACs or help from special interests like AIPAC.
My wife Amy and I had built a wonderful little life for ourselves in eastern Maine before all this, but as the campaign really got going, I suddenly felt this weight on my shoulders. I knew how many people were counting on me. How many people like you had given of their time, their money, and their whole selves to help build this campaign.
But every day I was also reminded: It’s not just me. I don’t carry this alone. We’re in this fight together.
I see it in the excited and nervous faces of young people who come to one of our organizing trainings and are getting involved for the first time ever. I see it in the yard signs all across the state as I drive from city to city. I see it in the teary eyes of the woman who pulls me aside after a town hall to tell me that she finally feels like someone is going to go down to Washington to fight for her and her family. And I hear it in the voice of the man who shouts across the street: “I’m a Republican, but you’ve got my vote! Go give ‘em hell, Graham!”
Something special is happening here in Maine. Ours is not just a campaign to defeat Susan Collins – although we are most certainly going to do that next November. We are building a working-class movement of people who are ready to fight for big things and stand up to the oligarchy and the fascists and the billionaires who are trying to destroy our democracy.
I’ll admit: This has been hard. It is one thing to tell yourself what it will feel like when things get ugly and the DC establishment turns on the machine to destroy your life. It’s another to live it.
But my resolve is strengthened every day knowing that I do not carry this alone – that I have people like you who are with me every step of the way.
Together, we are going to defeat Susan Collins. Together, we are going to win.
I am forever grateful for your support.
In solidarity,
Graham Platner