Breaking News from Pod Save America - Political Experts React to BRUTAL Attack Ad Against Graham Platner

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Janet Mills releases a brutal new attack ad targeting Graham Platner as Maine’s Democratic Senate primary heats up. Dan Pfeiffer and Alex Wagner of  @RunawayCountrywithAlexWagner  break down the race. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR: ZIP RECRUITER - http://ziprecruiter.com/CROOKED DAN'S MESSAGE BOX http://crooked.com/yeswedan 00:00 - Janet Mills' Attack Ad 08:20 - Ad Break 09:40 - Graham Platner Response Ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Start selling on Deepop, where Taste recognizes taste. I think it is always a good thing when politicians own up to their transgressions and mistakes. And Graham Platner has done that consistently in this campaign because he's made so many mistakes. Welcome to Politbuquerr. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. Joining me today is the hosts of the amazing podcast Runaway Country and the Incredible Substack, How the Hell, Crooked Media Zone, Alex Wagner. Oh my God, I love being introduced as Crooked Media's own. That makes me so. I mean, is that too much? Do you want to...

I'm happy to be a crooked zone. I'm very happy to be here. Danny Boy. I was making my kids listen to Danny Boy on St. Patrick's Day after we set our leper contraps. And I wonder if anybody ever called you that growing up, Danny Boy. My parents worked very hard to make sure I was never called Danny. Right. I know, but I just mean there's a term of endearment like, oh, Danny boy.

More a term of ridicule, maybe. Oh, well, it's in the term of endearment. Yeah, not so much. I won't use it ever again. Okay. We are here together, again, a political expert's react to discuss everyone's favorite topic. The Maine Senate race, even though the primary is not for months, the negative ads have started flying. Janet Mills went up with an ad attacking Graham Platner.

Just the other day in Maine, let's take a look and then let's discuss it. Did you know Graham Platner wrote that women worried about need to quote. Not get so f*** up, they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to. It's disgusting. Platner wrote to avoid women should quote. Act like an adult for sake. Grand Platner, seriously. We blame the victim.

That's a horrible thing to say. Disqualifying. I have not seen this. He's a bully. This guy gives off a vibe. Just no way I could vote for you. No. Graham Platner, the closer you look, the worse it gets.

I'm Janet Mills, and I approve this message. Okay, what do you think? Is it effective ad? What do you think about going up with it now? Listen, okay. I mean, I have a lot to say about this ad. Go for it. According to what I read on the internet,

59% of the main electorate is female as of 2020. which was admittedly six years ago, but still. A lot of women in-I-Mage. I imagine it hasn't changed that much in six years. Yeah, a lot of women in Maine. And let's just talk about the cinematography, the production of the ad. So the idea is simple, get women to react to a new story that's been out there a long time, but seems to have fresh legs based on the fact that, A, this ad is coming out with,

there's this attack ad, but also there are clearly people in Maine that haven't heard these comments before, right? And women in specific. The woman who says this guy gives off a vibe is like the chef's kiss moment for me in that ad. I mean, it really hones in on the fact that what he said is really distasteful and awful. And that I think Sterec still carries a lot of resonance, not just because we have someone who's found civilly liable for sexual assaults as our commander-in-chief, but just generally it feels like we, in the second Trump administration, arguably beginning in the first, turned a page into a very violently misogynist American culture.

and for progressives and Democrats to have someone who potentially could be on the ticket who has said, like, I would call on a hateful, but at the very least, misogynist like things about women who are and made them, you know, made it an issue of social responsibility and not violence directed towards women is like a fucked up thing for Democratic voters. So I think that part is effective, right? I think that the Mills campaign is right in thinking that they're still, to be crass about it. there's still some powder that's dry here, like that they can be used against, and not just some, but like maybe a potentially significant amount that can be used against Platner.

Like, I'm a little bit underwhelmed by the women in the ad that they come across as a little, not rehearsed, but like stilted. There's so many ways to capture like visceral, real emotional reaction. This felt a little bit, I mean, it felt like they'd done a couple takes. I'm not saying that any of this was scripted, but it just didn't, it didn't feel as naturally, they didn't feel as naturally aghast as I'm sure they actually are. And so I think that watered down the potential impact of it somewhat. But I still think it's really fucking effective.

I think it's like a problem. So here's my take on it. I think this is totally fair game, right? Like we are trying to pick the person who can best defeat Susan Collins. Graham Platner's biggest vulnerability is obviously all the things he said online, you know, seven, eight years ago, whatever it was. Like that should be aired out. You know, for people like you and I who have, who not only follow this, but record podcasts and YouTube series about it once every three weeks.

Yes. We're obviously very familiar with it, but I think it's fair to say that most people in Maine. And really the general, I would say there's certainly a percentage of the Democratic primary electorate in Maine who do not know about it. But the general election, you know, like the independents, the less engaged Democrats, they probably don't certainly don't know about it. So it should be aired out in its full before the primary. I think the idea of having people react to clips on an iPad and then speaking, you know, this is, Joe Biden did this a lot. And I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. I think this is like this is sort of a common way of doing online content now. It sort of, I think it was kind of became popularized in the last dance when they were doing it with Michael Jordan.

They would show him videos and he would react to it. And a lot of people have taken it since then. I think the problem with this ad, there are like a couple of things they did that I think are kind of dumb. you're right those women are stilted in it because that's not their natural reaction they're not actors even worse than that they are local political activists who support janet mills which was like there was a way to do this where you actually where you actually showed you just brought camera crews out and you just showed it to women on the street and then had them react to it and you videotape that and then asked for you know get them a sign of release to be in an ad you know that's cost more money is uh more time intensive more risky but it's certainly a better

product than this. There's also like a mild controversy. I don't think this really matters, but that's not Grant Platner's voice. He didn't say these things. He wrote them. People thought that that was AI. The Mills campaign claims that it's a voice actor of some kind. That's just like a little thing that is like a little sloppy, I think. But other than that, I think the ad is pretty effective. Like this is his biggest vulnerability. By all accounts, he is winning this primary. It's only a right now. It's only a question of how much. And the Mills campaign is disputed. did this. They've pointed to other polling. They've put it they've, you know, they, they, they put out polling all the time. That polling is always only Mills and Collins head to head and

Platner and Collins head to head. And then they only really focus on what happens when you give them the negative information about Platner and how that changes. Which is a totally fair point. Like that is, that is what you need to know. But the fact that they're up with this ad in March is a sign that they are behind. Yeah. Negative ads work. If they didn't work, people wouldn't do them. They work less well in primaries, primarily because both candidates are usually liked by the Democratic Party electorate. Platner is less well known, although he's more well known in Maine than I think you would suspect, just given the size of the state and how much attention he's gotten. The thing that bothers me from, that I think is a potential warning sign for the Mills campaign is if you do the ad and you're using all of these people who already work in politics and are sort of known political activists,

you are missing your biggest vulnerability, which is that you are the establishment, you know, even putting aside the age question, you're truly biggest vulnerability. The DSCC's candidate. You're the incumbent. There is people want change. They want someone outside the system. They want somebody who's not associated with the leadership of the Democratic Party. And then when you do the ad, you lean into that weakness, right?

Most people don't know that. Yeah, I did not. Yeah. But the fact that you didn't see it. me is like a broader warning sign. It reminds me of on Iowa caucus night when Obama beat Hillary. On Hillary's event, they brought out every person who ever worked in the Clinton administration to be on stage with her. Like Madeline Albright was over her right shoulder. And like, we watched that and we were like, they still don't get it. They do not understand what the voters want.

And I think that there was a potential warning sign for that about the Mills campaign. Having said all of that, this is a very effective ad. is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. What's the latest trend in hiring? It's skill-based hiring, which emphasizes capabilities over education and direct experience. According to experts,

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and how to win the argument with your MAGA curious uncle in the family group chat. If you subscribe now, you'll get 20% off. Go to the link in the description. Are people going to care about what Graham Platner said many years ago? Are they going to believe his answers about it? And on that, he went up a response out. So let's look at that ad and then judge how we think people react to it.

If I saw these ads, I'd have questions. These are words and statements I abhor from a time in my life when I was struggling deeply after returning from war. These words are not who I am. So, man, I'm asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago. But who I am today and the kind of senator I promised to be. I'm Graham Platner, and I approve this message, and I will not let you down. What do you think? Okay, let me just begin this by saying, I think it is always a good thing when politicians own up to their transgressions and mistakes and their missteps.

That is fundamentally a good thing. And Graham Platner has done that consistently in this campaign because he's made so many mistakes. But he has had to do this a number of times. And as a matter of like sort of strategy and ethics, I think it is generally a good idea. However, like, what the fuck do you mean? Like, just kind of like, who are you today? What do you think about, like, sexual assault and sexual violence? Like, what do you think of those comments?

Just saying this was my worst day on the internet in a terrible year at a terrible time is like a pre. That's sort of the predicate. That's the preamble to explaining how you think of sexual assault. What you think of sex. I mean, I'm not saying you need to lay out a policy prescription, but he never actually addresses the substance of the controversy, except to say, judge me by who I am today. Well, if you didn't know that Graham Platner had made these comments, maybe you don't know that much about Graham Platner today. It just assumes a lot on the part of the viewer.

So in that way, I don't think it's effective. It felt to me like it was like, you could hear the, you know, conversation at Platner, H. Koo, which was like, okay, they're up with this ad. Like, we're going to say what we've said before, which is like, you know, they're running the same play, which in, in its essence isn't a bad play. but I do think, I mean, maybe this is because I'm a woman and we have so normalized violence against women. We've so made it okay for candidates to just be like, I mean, we've reelected a man that said grab him by the p. I would hold Democrats to a higher standard here.

And I really think substantively, if not strategically, he falls short. If Graham Platner is the, you know, the Democratic candidate, it's not going to be because he assuaged voters' concerns about his thinking about women and it's because he's just the stronger candidate and managed to kind of like brush this aside. I don't think this is addressing, you know, his statements in a meaningful way. And that disappoints me, even though this might be enough. I think all those criticisms are 100% fair. If you're curious, if you're talking about the substance, this ad does not address the substance. My gut is this ad was in the can. And I imagine that they have been waiting, like they have the advantage of knowing this is the ad that's coming. Because his comments on were so voluminous that you couldn't, it would

be like the Saturday Live Gerald Ford Didescape. Like you couldn't do enough takes to get all of them. So this is the catch-all version of that. If they'd gone up with some of the things he'd said that on race or about calling himself a socialist or communist or whatever terminology used, you would use this ad too. So I think that is... One size fits all. This is, yeah, this is the catch-all version response ad.

I think he does a good job to camera delivering it. I think he comes across as sincere. I think this is not enough to a. address, like this is not sufficient to answer all of these questions, either from a substantive perspective, like what does he really think and an electability perspective? Because there's two ways people look at this. And grand plan there is, I think, this fascinating war shark test of what you and I stand on either side is people look at him and think, oh, he made these comments a long time ago. He made mistakes. Those were bad. He is a changed man now. And then there are people who

think he made those comments. Maybe he kind of still believes them, but he's changed what he's saying because he wants to run for Senate. I think you probably fall in the middle of those two points. I don't know. There's a lot of data points that suggests he has a very specific character that perhaps extends beyond the trauma that he was feeling in that particular period in his life. Do you know what I mean?

What I just mean like they're the racist comments. There's the Nazi tattoo. It's just like a suite of controversial behaviors that make you wonder, like what, like, really what is this guy? What is this guy about? Now, but he is like, he is an incredibly compelling candidate and he presents himself as something different today. But that fundamental question, which without getting too philosophical here, is like, who are we really? And like, what do we, what is, what comprises our moral core? What is, where does our compass, like, in what direction does our moral compass truly point is like maybe not answerable in the context of electoral politics? I digress.

And I think the fact that PTSD may be involved. Of course. And as to the complication of it. Yes. Yes. And it adds to the complication. And no one can really know. I have been persuaded on the Nazi tattoo from people like Ruben Gallego who have been on those drunken, not tattoo getting trips.

Yeah. And his endorse grand planner. But he said that even before he endorsed grand patenter, he talked about this. So like I can believe the story that he. So I guess sort of the question people look at this is. you hear this a lot on the internet. Like, is he a secret Nazi? Right.

I just, I find that hard to believe that he has a secret Nazi. Sign of the times that this is a debate. Does he, you know, then the other question is the one you're raised in which I think is a very fair and legitimate question is like, what elements of toxic masculinity were certainly present then and are still

present now? And how should you be held accountable for that behavior? That is, that is a very fair question. And then there is this other thing that I cannot buy, which is that he is a secret conservative and he's the next John Fetterman. I think that is an absurd proposition. You hear that all the time.

Like we cannot take it. People said it about Tala Rico too. Like, oh, he hangs out with all these Republicans. Like, is he going to be the next Tala Rico? This was a very prominent argument from the, the on, not the Crockett campaign, but the sort of Crockett's online supporters. Yeah. And that I can't buy. There are the two things, like this, I am fascinated by this race, but we talk about all the time.

Because it brings to bear like some of the biggest divides in the party that we're trying to wrestle with, which is old generation of leadership versus new generation of leadership. insider candidate versus outsider candidate. And that this question of electability, like what makes someone electable? In the old world, for 100% certainty, Janet Mills would be the more electable candidate. Like that just two-time governor elected, like that's Chuck Schumer. That's why Chuck Schumer endorsed her. Like that's his view. In the new world, put aside the Reddit comments for a second.

Like let's pretend let's go back in time to before those as if those never existed. Then there's a real question is this outsider candidate, a more who's can, has sort of maybe a different kind of appeal. Is that the more electable candidate? And then you add on to this, the fact, this larger question about who Grant Platner is. So the Reddit things bring up both an electability question, and they bring up this other question about who is the person. And I think that makes all of this very fascinating. And in large cases, unanswerable, I think. The other dynamic I think this brings up, which is unresolved in American politics, is the gender dynamic.

Yeah. You know, Grand Platner is presently running against a woman and an older woman. And if he's the nominee, he's going to be running against an older woman. Susan Collins. And, you know, we saw this, this dynamic and the poison of that dynamic very much hangs in the head. I think of American women with Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris losing to Donald Trump, the sense of injustice that women feel and the sense that like, it doesn't really fucking matter as long as your white guy. Like, it's going to be okay. And you can fucking get away with what. And this is so fraught, not just because you have these comments that Platner made about women, but that it's going to bring to the fore. There are latent and sort of, of undiagnosed, like, sort of a national misogyny we carry with us. And I think that that is, you know, I get what, and listen, I am embracing of, like, insurgent candidates and breaking the mold. But I think embedded in that is also, like, there, I think we just need to be careful about also indicting women and older women. It's more okay in society to demean them and

denigrate them in, and I think subconscious ways, then it would be a man of the same. Yes. I genuinely believe that. And that dynamic is going to be on display. If Grand Platner is the nominee, we're going to see that play out with Susan Collins. I am no fucking defender of Susan Collins. But that is just, it's such an unresolved dynamic in American politics. And it's like at the national level and at the state level.

And I think, you know, all of this turns that up. All of this makes, I think, win. Women uneasy, older women uneasy, and I think that probably matters in a state like Maine. And it's a little bit hard to put your hands on or hands around. But it's there in this, as much as all those other dynamics that you pointed out. Older college-educated women are an absolute essential voting block, not just to win the Senate race against Susan Collins, but to win the primary. And that is critical. And I should have stated it earlier, but it is a very important point that if a woman posted a bunch of stuff like this,

on Reddit or something else years before, they would not be given the benefit of the doubt. If a man of color posted this stuff on Reddit, they would not be given the benefit of the doubt. Imagine that a, you know, a black or Latino or an Arab-American candidate had said, like, I hate white people or it said terrible things about when, like, that would not be permitted. Like, and that was, you know, I mean, that sort of was why, you know, for Obama had to walk the tightrope at all times and even, you know, one singular mistake from him would end his campaign in a way that would have not have affected any of the men he was running against in 2008 or 2012.

So, yeah, this is very important, which is why this race is so complicated. It brings to bear so many things. And, like, we just don't know what is going to happen here. And, you know, it's just, I think it's fascinating in a whole bunch of ways. which is why we have to talk about it every week. It's not every week. Well, no, what I'm suggesting maybe we should. Well, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we've discussed in the past.

We could do podsafe main. I'm here for it. We could end this with, you know what, I think that we can end this in a late summer live show in Portland, Maine. I mean, I am all about it. Yes. Lobster rolls and blueberry pie on me. Perfect. All right, done.

All right. Alex Wagner. Oh, dang boy. Thank you. Thank you for submitting to yet another political experts react. It's on the main senators. My pleasure, man.