#us-senate-elections

#us-senate-elections

A super PAC dedicated to reelecting Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine recently put nearly $2 million behind television and YouTube ads attacking likely Democratic candidate Graham Platner. The spots, which began airing more than a month before the June 9 Democratic primary, focus exclusively on decade-old personal social-media posts and a tattoo Platner got as a young man and has since covered up. There is no discussion of policy, voting records, or Platner's platform as a Marine veteran running as a working-class populist. Instead, the ads-focused on the theme "Who Is The Real Graham Platner?"-center entirely on personal attacks, financed largely by out-of-state billionaires and Republican-aligned "dark money" groups seeking to preserve Collins's seat and the GOP Senate majority.