I’m responding to the recent letter expressing fear that Maine will make an embarrassing mistake by electing Graham Platner to the U.S. Senate (March 3). The writer worries that electing Platner would bring shame upon the state of Maine, bringing us back to the governorship of Paul LePage.

First, don’t look now, but Paul LePage is running for Congress again. Second, Graham Platner is not Paul LePage, which a cursory survey of dozens of points of disagreement in both policy and temperament would quickly show. Finally, I’ll tell any out-of-stater that I’m not at all embarrassed by Graham Platner.

Granted, he comes across as salty. I’d like to see any other person come through four combat tours with their tweed intact. 

But listen to him speak now. Meet him. You’ll see. Combat service has a way of breaking deep into the heart. After years of dealing with trauma, veterans like Graham develop an enduring vision of what matters most. I know that because, as a fellow Marine combat vet, that was my experience. I know it when I see it: Graham Platner has a foxhole bond with the working class.

I want a senator who has owned and grown from his past. I want a senator who is fiercely committed to working people out of affinity, not patronage. And representation in the Senate that fights like hell for our rural hospitals, individual rights and the dignity and security of every Mainer and American is far more important than what strangers in another state think.

Matt Kershaw
Lewiston