{"id":837792,"date":"2026-06-01T23:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/837792\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:10:15","slug":"sen-bernie-sanders-stands-by-graham-platner-after-controversy-over-sexually-explicit-texts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/837792\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Bernie Sanders stands by Graham Platner after controversy over sexually explicit texts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and PATRICK WHITTLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he is standing by Graham Platner in the wake of media reports that the Maine Senate candidate previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages<\/a> with several women while he was married.<\/p>\n

Platner, a Democrat, posted a video over the weekend taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year. In the video, Gertner decried coverage of the issue as \u201cgossip\u201d and said \u201cbeing married is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders, a critical early backer of Platner, told The Associated Press on Monday that he still supports the oyster farmer and combat veteran, who hopes to unseat veteran Republican Sen. Susan Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t afford healthcare. Can\u2019t afford groceries. Can\u2019t afford to put gas in their cars. And I think it might be a good idea if we focused on the important issues facing the working families of Maine and this country,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

The senator added that he was scheduled to meet with Platner while he\u2019s in Washington this week and feels the nation should \u201cfocus on issues more important than the Platner marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platner is also expected to attend a fundraiser co-hosted by Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Platner is seeking the Democratic nomination for one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country as Democrats hope to defeat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins and regain control of the chamber. The Maine primary is June 9, and Platner\u2019s primary rival for the nomination, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, already suspended her campaign<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

Platner is scheduled to appear in Bar Harbor Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California and a pair of Democratic Maine candidates. It\u2019s billed as a \u201cget out the vote\u201d rally and it\u2019s taking place at a historic theater in the coastal resort town.<\/p>\n

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and PATRICK WHITTLE WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":837793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,342870,10635,1582,276,285351,3549,7264,154820,343311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-837792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-amy-gertner","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-graham-platner","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-sexting","tag-sexually-explicit-texts","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116677379899579637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}