Graham Platner, the leading Democrat for the Senate race in Maine, fired back at Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Thursday after she said it was solely his decision to serve in the Iraq War.
Platner said Collins sent him to fight in the war through her past votes, and she denied the implication.
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“He not only enlisted twice after the war was started, but he also went to work for a security company, a controversial one named Blackwater, after his term in the service was over,” Collins told the Maine Wire.
“I respect anyone who steps forward to serve their country, but the fact is that was Platner’s decision to serve,” she said. “He was not drafted.”
In response, Platner called her statement a “slap in the face” to the families of U.S. service members.
“There hasn’t been a draft in over 50 years. Every single one of the 7,000 young men and women Susan Collins sent to die in Iraq and Afghanistan enlisted,” the Marine Corps veteran posted on X. “What a disgusting slap in the face to their families and a callous disregard for their sacrifice.”
In a video message hours earlier, Platner explained Collins voted to support starting the Iraq War that began in 2003 and later voted against withdrawing troops three different times. He also said she voted twice to fund the war.
“Now all these years later, instead of acknowledging that she was wrong, she’s decided that she’s going to blame all of us who — in our late teens and early twenties — signed up to serve our country,” the progressive candidate said. “That somehow it’s our fault that she and establishment politicians like her, wanted to abuse our willingness to serve, to go send us off to fight in stupid wars that did nothing but make some people very, very rich at the expense of American taxpayer dollars.”
GRAHAM PLATNER LEADS SUSAN COLLINS BY 9 POINTS IN MAINE SENATE RACE: POLL
The back-and-forth comments come as Platner gains momentum ahead of the June 9 primary after Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) dropped out of the Senate race. Should he win the Democratic primary, the military veteran and oyster farmer will challenge Collins in November.
The latest poll from the University of New Hampshire shows Platner leading Collins by 9 points at this point in the race. He also has the support of 76% likely Democratic primary voters, signaling he will go head-to-head with the GOP incumbent in the general election.
