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Mainers are heading<\/span> to the polls Tuesday in the final day of a bruising primary fight for the Democratic Senate nomination that has seen Graham Platner, a political newcomer, rise as the presumptive choice to take on Republican Susan Collins \u2014 but not without taking heavy damage from stories delving into his past.<\/p>\n Plainspoken populism won the oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran support among fed-up Maine voters that appeared unshaken despite months of negative press stemming from Platner\u2019s inflammatory comments<\/a> on Reddit and an ill-advised tattoo<\/a> resembling a Nazi symbol. But a recent series of damaging stories in national media, including revelations in the Wall Street Journal<\/a> about extramarital sexting and allegations in the New York Times<\/a> of abusive behavior in past relationships, have given some voters and political observers pause. Others say that in Maine, a fiercely independent state where residents nurse a healthy suspicion of influence \u201cfrom away,\u201d Platner supporters have dismissed those stories as meddling from an establishment fearful<\/a> of a political maverick<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom what I can tell, I don\u2019t think the Times piece moved the needle much,\u201d said Shay Stewart-Bouley, a longtime Maine resident who has written both critically and supportively<\/a> of Platner on her blog, Black Girl in Maine. \u201cI heard some women say it made them uneasy, but I haven\u2019t heard anyone say it changed how they\u2019re going to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In other cases, the coverage appears to have cemented Platner\u2019s status as an outsider to an establishment embodied by Collins, who has represented Maine in the Senate since 1997. Like many incumbents nationwide, the Republican senator will have to run amid a shrinking job market and rising costs, points that Platner has seized on throughout his campaign. And Collins\u2019s association with the establishment could prove a major liability, even among onetime supporters of President Donald Trump, according to Charles Pray, a former state senator and veteran figure in Maine Democratic politics.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of Trump\u2019s rise was a total frustration with incumbents and people in power, and a lot of people who were Trump supporters who hoped he was going to address rising grocery prices and stuff now see him saying that affordability is not an issue,\u201d said Pray. \u201cWell, affordability is a big issue in Maine, and I think that hurts Collins.\u201d<\/p>\n Platner still faces a nominal challenge in Tuesday\u2019s primary from Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign in April<\/a> but remains on the ballot, and from David Costello, a former Democratic nominee in the 2024 Senate race who has remained little more than an afterthought in the current contest. With Maine\u2019s ranked-choice voting system, it\u2019s possible the results won\u2019t be clear Tuesday night, but Platner is widely expected to face Collins in the November general election.<\/p>\n Just days before the primary, the Times reported disturbing allegations about Platner, including that an ex-girlfriend accused him of drunkenly locking her in a room during a fight and physically restraining her at times. (Platner has acknowledged the relationship with the accuser, a longtime Republican operative in Washington, but denies he engaged in violent behavior.) <\/p>\n Pray said that among people he\u2019s spoken with, the allegations, while concerning,<\/strong> are undercut by Collins\u2019s support<\/a> for the nomination<\/a> of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh<\/a> despite the sexual assault accusations<\/a> against him<\/a>, and by her support of Trump despite the many accusations against him and his consistently hostile behavior toward women interviewers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people aren\u2019t buying the double standard. She confirmed Kavanaugh, she supports Trump despite his behavior,\u201d Pray said, pointing to the president\u2019s recent outburst on NBC News<\/a>. \u201cI spoke to three women, including Republicans, who were very upset by that and who said \u2018Susan just goes along with that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n