By the time I met Graham Platner in a small cafe in Portland, he’d been the subject of big, splashy profiles in The New York Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic. So the first thing that impressed me was how quickly he agreed to meet me — a small local newspaper columnist, not flashy in the slightest — and how willing he was to work with my narrow work-and-pregnancy timetable.

The second thing that impressed me was how not intimidating he was. I walked in (well, waddled) expecting to be a little nervous. After all, this was the guy who’s in the big magazines I subscribe to and is all over my Instagram feed. But I felt immediately chill and relaxed in Platner’s company.

Platner wouldn’t be the first senator with tattoos but might he be the first male senator to have a pierced ear (two tiny, tasteful gold hoops)? He wore a “Union Yes” hoodie. He gives off the vibe of “neighbor you’d trust with a spare house key.” And he didn’t have a posse or a crowd, just two staffers, millennials like myself, who also seemed like cool people to hang out with. 

Like others, I’ve been watching Platner’s primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for Senate. I certainly like his progressive policies that put working people (or, as I tend to think of us, “normal people”) first.

But what really drove me to want to get to know him was finding out he named one of his rescue dogs Zevon, after Warren Zevon. At 40, this might just make him the youngest Zevon fan in the state next to myself.

In case anyone other than me was wondering, he was introduced to Zevon through listening to Stephen King’s old radio station 100.3, and his favorite song by him is “Desperados Under The Eaves.” Platner’s favorite Star Trek captain is Picard, because The Next Generation represents Star Trek “at its most hopeful.” TNG is also my favorite but not for as good a reason (I have a huge crush on Data). 

A lot of people have pointed out Platner doesn’t have a ton of political experience — he was his town’s harbormaster and served for five or six years on the planning board. And it’s true that he’s not the most “experienced” candidate in the race. But has electing the folks with the most years in office really worked out for us yet? Besides, I served a term on a planning board myself. It’s all politics, boiled down and distilled to its purest, most local version.

Platner agreed that his time on the planning board “one hundred percent” helped prepare him for serving in the Senate. It helped him to see “how policy interacts with people in reality.” Some politicians, he pointed out, are out of touch with reality; policy becomes about horse trading and ceases being attached to material outcomes. And Graham is big into material outcomes. 

Longtime readers of my column may know that after her defeat in 2020, Sara Gideon, the last challenger up against Sen. Susan Collins, ended the race with $14.5 million still in the bank, which has been sitting there for years. She’s donated some to charity and to other political groups here and there but it’s literally half a decade later and according to the most recent FEC filings she still has $3.6 million in the bank.

This has bothered me for years. I also think the situation symbolizes a lot of what people hate about politics these days. So I asked Graham, who has already raised over $3 million, what he would do if he ended the campaign with a surplus. He laughed and said he isn’t planning to have money left over; there’s always another office to open.

Platner’s campaign is focused on field operations, and the money is dedicated to building more organizing in the state of Maine. In fact, his team is thinking of this November as their “first election,” as they organize volunteers to campaign against ballot Question 1, which, if passed, would restrict absentee voting.

I told him that if he did end up with a nest egg in the bank and sat on it, I would write some super witchy columns about it, only I used a different word that rhymes with witchy. Platner laughed and said that was fair. 

If he wins the nomination, he may come to the attention of President Donald Trump, who loves bestowing insulting nicknames on people. I asked Platner how he would respond to the very real possibility of the president of the United States calling him “Graham Cracker.” He’s not worried about it, as he has apparently been called that since he was 3. (At this point, one of the staffers chimed in to say her toddler daughter also calls him Graham Cracker.) 

We spent about 45 minutes together and honestly could have talked about Warren Zevon and Star Trek the whole time. Policies can shift and change — and sometimes must, because governing is often about compromise — but I wanted to get a sense of his character, something that doesn’t tend to change.

Platner spoke to me like a real person, not a practiced media presenter. While he had his message, he answered my questions genuinely, rather than reciting canned talking points. The only hint of a canned sales-pitch answer I got from him was when I asked him for advice on what to do if I like the flavor of oysters but hated the texture. His immediate response was “Eat oysters from eastern Maine.” (This man takes his mollusks seriously.) 

Like a lot of Mainers, Platner didn’t seem to want to talk too much about his personal life (I’m the exception, I know). However, it was clear from speaking with him that this decision to run for Senate was a little bittersweet. This wasn’t his career plan; this isn’t a feather in his cap. He’s built himself a nice little life that he’s worked hard for (the multiple military deployments attest to that).

It’s clear to me that it wasn’t an easy choice for Platner to give up working with his hands on the water in one of the most beautiful places in the world. He’s doing it because he cares. (And if he’s faking it, he should be heading to Hollywood, not D.C.)

Platner loves Maine, probably as much as I do. Like me, he’s got himself a good life. Rather than try to hoard it for himself, he wants everyone to be able to have those resources and that happiness. He got all lit up talking about the high cost of child care, lack of paid parental leave, about making big structural changes, about how back in the 1990s, not so long ago, he saw families that only had one parent working and could still afford good lives.

It’s a long road to the Democratic primary, and an even longer road to the 2026 Senate election. But as of right now, Platner has got my vote. And he’s already got the constituent service aspect of the job down — the last thing he did before we parted ways was to point me to the bathroom.