Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner over the weekend earned plaudits after he urged compassion to working-class Americans who have been taken in President Donald Trump’s false promises.
During a town hall event at an American Legion post in Caribou, Maine, Platner, who is running to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in 2026, was confronted by a woman who demanded to know what he planned to do about “the illegals” living in the state who were purportedly getting “free benefits.”
While many in the audience reacted negatively to the woman’s question, Platner urged them to have compassion for her.
“If you listen to what she was saying, at her core, she’s angry about the exact same things you are,” said Platner. “People are propagandized, people are misinformed, but people are not stupid, and we shouldn’t treat them as such. People are angry because they know they’re being screwed.”
“If somebody robs your neighbor’s house, you don’t go over there and laugh at them afterward,” he said. “They’ve been taken advantage of, and that’s what this is. People are being robbed. They’re being robbed of their critical thinking, they’re being robbed of their empathy.”
Platner concluded by saying that “the answer to that is not shame, the answer to that is not anger, the answer is empathy and compassion.“
Platner’s answer earned praise from some observers who said it offered Democrats a way to win back blue-collar voters whom they have been losing in recent elections.
“Not a lot of Dems who can pull this move off,” remarkedWashington Post economics reporter Jeff Stein.
Democratic political consultant Rebecca Katz also had praise for Platner’s message and said it made no sense for Democratic voters to line up behind an establishment candidate such as current Maine Gov. Janet Mills, whom party leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), are pushing to enter the race.
“Can you imagine seeing the incredible response this guy is getting all over the state, the lawn signs popping up for him, the volunteers signing up, the small donors engaged, the people genuinely EXCITED and then deciding, ‘Nope, we need someone older and more establishment?‘” she wondered.
Pro-Palestinian organizer Tariq Habash shared the video on his X account and said that it should basically end the Maine Democratic Senate primary right now.
“If Democrats actually try to run another candidate instead of Graham, just shut down the whole party,” he wrote.
Platner, an oyster farmer and political novice, has made fighting against oligarchy the centerpiece of his Senate campaign, and he has repeatedly called attention to the class divide as the biggest problem in the US.
On his campaign website, Platner says that he would “be a strong supporter of a Medicare for All system, moving away from the for-profit insurance system that has brought us nothing but grief.” He has also vowed to protect Social Security, and to implement a “billionaire minimum tax” that would crack down on the loopholes used by the superrich to avoid making tax payments.