Graham Platner's Tale of Repair and Redemption Need Not End Here
(Jeff Edelstein, Bangor Daily News, July 10, 2026)
On June 9, in this paper, I called on Graham Platner to repair harm he may have caused in the past and to make personal integrity and combating violence against women the cornerstones of his campaign’s future. As I wrote then, “integrity is not about whether we make mistakes. It’s about what we do afterward.”
Platner’s candidacy may be over, but the duty of repair remains. And if he has the courage and humility to truly embrace repair and redemption, his political journey need not end. There may yet be a leadership role in his future. The choice is his.
No one except for Graham Platner and Jennifer Racicot knows for sure what happened that night in 2021 in Racicot’s home because no one except the two of them was there. Before anyone claims I am protecting Platner, let me state that, through my deep involvement in advocacy and support for survivors and my own lived experience, I know the pain of not being believed and how hard it can be to speak one’s truth.
But what I see is that the evidence supporting Racicot’s description of that night’s events, and what Platner himself has shared about his past, all points towards Platner bearing the lion’s share, and possibly all, of the responsibility for doing her harm.
If there are legal consequences, Platner should accept those, but punishment alone for criminal wrongdoing does not necessarily repair the harm caused. Platner may need to do even more. Maine, alongside a number of other states, has been steadily embracing “restorative justice” programs, even for crimes as serious as sexual assault, because of the greater healing to victims and greater community wellbeing and safety such approaches can bring.
I believe true redemption calls for Platner to offer Racicot or anyone else who comes to him alleging harm, the opportunity to safely speak their truth of what they experienced; for efforts to be made to uncover the factual truth of whatever happened; and then for Platner to repair whatever harm is his to own. He can draw on skilled restorative practitioners to support and facilitate such actions.
Then there is the harm Platner has done to the Democratic Party. Repair in this case calls for him to work as hard to get the party’s new candidate elected — whoever that might be — as he would have worked on his own campaign. He still has many devoted followers — and may gain still more if he shows the courage, humility and integrity the moment calls for — who he can encourage to vote for, and work for, the new candidate, just as they would have on Platner’s own campaign.
Following the election, Platner can then turn towards societal repair, through advocacy for policies, programs and funding to help boys and young men grow into safe, responsible members of our communities, as well as to address gender-based, sexual, and domestic violence. There is much, no doubt, for him to learn in these areas, and he should immerse himself in that learning.
This work, along with possibly other policy advocacy in areas his campaign has focused on, should be his full-time occupation, just as serving in the U.S. Senate would have been. This means either selling his oyster business or having someone else run it, just as he presumably would have done as a senator. He has acknowledged that his VA benefits provide him with the freedom to devote his time however he wishes.
Come 2028, if Platner has risen to these challenges, he may be ready to continue his political journey. If he still wishes to serve in elected office, he could run for the Maine Legislature or the U.S. House of Representatives. The voters will judge whether he is then ready for political leadership.
And then, in 2030, still young at age 45, if Platner has been serving the public with honor, integrity and effectiveness - in whatever capacity - the leadership opportunities would be limitless: re-election to the Maine legislature or U.S House, if he has been serving; moving into legislative leadership; running for governor; or taking a shot at Maine’s other U.S. Senate seat, that will likely be open.
His could be a powerful tale of repair and redemption. A tale of becoming not just a better leader, but a different kind of leader. A leader committed to courage, humility, kindness and radical accountability. The type of inspirational leader that Maine, and our nation, so dearly need. It is up to Graham Platner to decide whether to write - and live - that tale.
Graham Platner Should Make Combatting Violence Against Women a Priority
Jeff Edelstein, Bangor Daily News, June 9, 2026
Integrity is not about whether we make mistakes. It’s about what we do afterward. True integrity means not just apologizing, but repairing any harm done and putting safeguards and systems in place to ensure that we never make the same mistakes again. And for public officials, an even higher level of integrity is to work to create policy that addresses on a societal level the harm that they had caused individually.
If Graham Platner can rise to these heights of integrity – repairing harm, ensuring it will not happen again, and using what he has learned to create effective policy - he will show the people of Maine what political leadership - and healthy masculinity - can look like at a time when such models are sorely needed.
First, Platner should offer women from his past who he might have harmed the opportunity to share how they were impacted by his actions. Platner should listen deeply and work to repair any harm that is his to own.
Second, Platner should stop attacking others for his mistakes, in particular the media. Our democracy depends on transparency, and that is the role of the media, and the price that public servants pay for the chance to lead. Platner needs to understand that he is using a common tactic of those who have caused harm, called DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. DARVO is often used by domestic abusers. It is the last thing Platner should be doing.
Similarly, Platner should stop making statements like “people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids." That sells the people of Maine short. Most of us care about both: a candidate’s character as well as what he or she is fighting for.
Third, Platner should create an “Integrity Council” to hold himself to the highest degree of character, both during his campaign and as a senator should he win. The Council would include Mainers from across the political spectrum who have themselves demonstrated the highest degree of integrity in their lives. By taking this bold step, Platner would set a standard of integrity that every politician in America should emulate.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Platner should make combating violence against women a cornerstone of his public service. He should form an advisory council to guide his efforts, made up of leaders from Maine’s advocacy groups battling sexual assault, domestic violence, and sex trafficking, and groups fostering healthy masculinity for boys and men. Platner could also show leadership by launching a Congressional “Healthy Masculinity Caucus” to push for federal programs and funding to support men in moving beyond violence towards women.
The argument that a candidate’s personal life has nothing to do with their political life is overly simplistic. Voters need to know not just what a candidate promises to do in office, but also whether they will keep those promises. Without any substantial record of public service by which to judge Platner’s fidelity to his promises, the public has no choice but to judge him by his personal life and, to his credit, he has courageously admitted his breaking of one of the most sacred vows a person can make, their marriage vows.
I’m not saying that Platner’s actions automatically disqualify him from office. Indeed, some of the most honorable people are that way precisely because they know firsthand what it is like to fail and harm those closest to them. But Platner needs to show that he has truly grown from his mistakes, not just with words, but with actions: repairing the harm to any women involved; putting safeguards and systems in place to ensure that he will keep his promises to the public; and making violence against women a cornerstone of his public service. If he does all that, he will be the type of leader Mainers seek and deserve.
Jeff Edelstein is a public policy mediator who has resolved conflict from the community level to Congress. He is the author of From Oath to Action: Simple Acts of Courage to Rebuild American Democracy and founder of the Campaign for Courage and Acts of Kindness Maine. He can be reached at info@campaignforcourage.org.
Graham Platner should use the spotlight to empower women
by The BDN Editorial Board (June 11, 2026)
As the Democratic nominee in a closely watched U.S. Senate race, Graham Platner has been in the spotlight. We suggest he use the attention and platform to draw needed attention to a scourge of Maine, the nation and the world — the disempowerment of women.
Shortly before Tuesday’s primary election, in which Platner, as expected, easily captured his party’s nomination to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, the New York Times reported that Platner had mistreated several former girlfriends. They recounted troubling incidents of intimidation and disturbing behavior. Platner denies most of the allegations, and we are not suggesting that he engaged in domestic violence. Instead, he deserves credit for readily admitting, and working to address, the corrosive impacts of the misogyny and violence he experienced during his time in the U.S. military.
With attention on his past behavior and his past comments discounting sexual violence, Platner has an opportunity to speak out forcefully against efforts to diminish the power and independence of women. Even better, he could tell Mainers what steps he’d take in the U.S. Senate to protect women from violence and to more broadly improve their security, which includes financial, reproductive and educational autonomy. Such work aligns with his populist message as economic insecurity and the lack of health care and childcare, especially in rural areas, along with foreign wars, disproportionately harm women.
A central theme of Platner’s personal story is that he has grown and changed since the days when he posted racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments on social media. He is not the person who mocked rural residents and was a “bad boyfriend,” Platner has said.
Here, he has an opportunity to show the world that he has changed, not just tell us he has.
Many of Platner’s supporters will quickly point out that Republicans — including the president — have done far worse things than Platner. While that is likely true, such whataboutism doesn’t solve problems.
For example, the prevalence of domestic violence in America is a real problem that demands real solutions, not deflections. And, the key to real solutions is more engagement from men, particularly men like Platner — a military veteran, a guy with a bro aura, a man who says he’s spent a lot of time and energy working to fix himself.
Last week, three domestic violence incidents in the U.S. left three mothers and 10 children dead. The youngest victim was 3 years old. These killings may not have made national headlines, but they reflect a troubling trend. While homicides in the U.S. have declined sharply in recent years, domestic violence killings have spiked, a Washington Post analysis found.
This rise in violence comes while the Trump administration has delayed the distribution of already approved funding for programs that support survivors of domestic and sexual violence, forcing emergency shelters to close in some state. Platner should make it clear that, if elected, he would work to restore and increase this funding, and take other steps to support, empower, and protect women.
Men continue to dominate Congress and other legislative bodies. As a result, they have a large hand in setting the agenda and priorities for lawmaking.
Men are most often the perpetrators of violence against women.
So, it is up to men to speak out, to demand action, to hold their peers accountable.
A strong man in the spotlight can make a difference.
Graham Platner’s Tale of Repair and Redemption Need Not End here.
(Bangor Daily News, July 10, 2026)
On June 9, in this paper, I called on Graham Platner to repair harm he may have caused in the past and to make personal integrity and combating violence against women the cornerstones of his campaign’s future. As I wrote then, “integrity is not about whether we make mistakes. It’s about what we do afterward.”
Now we are approaching the “afterward” of his campaign. Although it is clear Platner must step down, his political journey need not end here. There may yet be a leadership role in his future, if he has the courage and humility to truly embrace repair and redemption.
No one can know for sure what happened that night in 2021 between Platner and Jennifer Racicot, because no one else was present as a witness. But the evidence supporting Racicot’s description of the events of that night - offered in the Politico article that brought her allegations forward - points towards Platner bearing some, if not the lion’s share or even all of the responsibility for causing harm. He himself has acknowledged actions he is not proud of regarding women he has been involved with, including his own wife.
If there are legal consequences for his actions, Platner should accept those, but with the understanding that punishment alone for wrongdoing does not necessarily repair the harm caused. Maine, alongside a number of other states, has been steadily embracing “restorative justice” programs, even for crimes as serious as sexual assault, that can bring greater healing to victims and greater community wellbeing and safety.
Integrity calls for Platner to offer Racicot, or anyone else who comes to him publicly or privately alleging harm, the opportunity to speak their truth of what they experienced; to take whatever measures are needed to try to uncover the full truth of whatever happened, which often no one person has the complete grasp of; and to commit to repairing whatever harm is his to own. He can draw on skilled restorative practitioners to support and facilitate such activities.
Then there is the harm Platner has done to the Democratic party. Repair in this case calls for him to commit to working as hard to get the party’s new candidate elected – whoever that might be - as he would have worked on his own campaign. He still has many devoted followers – and may gain still more if he embraces the courage, humility and integrity this moment calls for – who he can encourage to vote for the new candidate and to work on their campaign, just as they would have on his.
Following the election, Platner can then turn towards advocacy for policies, programs and funding to help boys and young men grow into safe responsible members of our communities, as well as to address gender-based, sexual, and domestic violence. There is much, no doubt, for him to learn in these areas, and he should immerse himself in that learning.
This work, along with possibly other policy advocacy in areas his campaign has focused on, should be his full-time occupation, just as serving in the U.S. Senate would have been. This means either selling his oyster business or having someone else run it, just as he presumably would have done as a senator. He has acknowledged that his VA benefits provide him with the freedom to devote his time however he wishes.
Come 2028, if Platner has risen to these challenges, he may be ready for the next step in his political journey. If he still wishes to serve in elected office, he could run for the Maine legislature. The voters will judge whether he has is ready for that type of leadership role.
And then, in 2030, still young at age 45, if Platner has been serving with honor and effectiveness in the Maine legislature, the political world could be his oyster (no pun intended). He could run for re-election and seek a legislative leadership role or run for governor. He could run for the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate. Or he could take on some other leadership role in Maine or the nation. His could be a powerful tale of repair and redemption, the type of inspirational leadership Maine, and our nation, so dearly need.