Sen. Bernie Sanders stands by Graham Platner after controversy over sexually explicit texts

[markpkessinger]

46. My concerns regarding Platner have to do with the way he has misrepresented his background and upbringing

He presents himself as a working class "oyster farmer" who was "never close to money and power." But then the NY Times reported that he is the grandson of a prominent Connecticut architect and the son of a Dartmouth-educated lawyer, from whom Platner still receives significant financial support, and who paid for Platner's wife's fertility treatments in Norway. As for being an oyster farmer, we find out that his only customer appears to be his mother's restaurant business. This from a guy who says, "“I’m a working-class guy that lives a working-class life." And we learn that he attended some very elite prep schools. From the NY Times article (gift link below):

In 1999, he spent a semester at the Hotchkiss School, a storied boarding school in the foothills of the Berkshires, where he said he had received financial aid to help cover the approximately $25,000 annual cost. Feeling out of place among the wealthy students, Mr. Platner said, he stopped going to class and was expelled.

He resumed his education as a day student at John Bapst Memorial High School, a private high school in Bangor, about an hour northwest of Sullivan.

It was known in the area as a prep school favored by families who wanted their children to get into more competitive universities, a place where freshmen took school trips to London or Paris, according to a yearbook.

Just a working class guy leading a working class life. Uh huh.

If he has misrepresented who he is already, why should anybody trust that he will be who he says during the campaign he will be?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-working-class.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nFA.3sOJ.8E5AHLqV32OO&smid=url-share