Kelly Gilbert of Scarborough is a student at the University of Southern Maine.

I’m a 24-year-old University of Southern Maine student who grew up in Portland. I’m procrastinating my schoolwork because I have something else on my mind.

With the Democratic primary for the Senate race approaching, I have heard that older feminists in Maine are hopeful that we can elect a Democratic woman to the Senate in Maine, and that they’re frustrated that Graham Platner’s popularity might make this difficult. Many of them correctly note that Platner has made misogynistic comments in the past, and they feel he could not serve the women of Maine better than Janet Mills could.

I would like to offer an alternative perspective to these women, many of whom I respect and admire, and anyone else who would like to hear me out.

We have already seen the centrist Democrat vs. moderate-to-far-right Republican race a million times, and it usually doesn’t end well for any of us. The race that jumps to my mind is the 2020 Senate race in which Sen. Susan Collins defeated Democrat Sara Gideon.

In my view, Collins led a bad-faith, hypocritical mudslinging campaign against Gideon, who had been accused of failing to investigate a Democratic state representative for misconduct and to publicly ask him to resign while she was speaker of the House.

Gideon was reportedly made aware of reports from the community that the state representative had inappropriate sexual relationships with teen girls he met while he was their teacher and coach. After seeing concrete evidence, she did eventually call on him to resign.

I vividly remember the particular attack ads by Collins in that election, which displayed the face of that predatory state representative, because I am a survivor of his abuse. You might remember those ads too. Aside from reporting the predatory behavior to the authorities, I have never spoken about this publicly. I feel this moment calls for it.

The whole thing was a nightmare for me and my loved ones. In hindsight, it was a perfect representation of the political mess we’re in. Gideon likely made a judgment call with her impending Senate run and other political interests in mind, one that failed to hold my abuser accountable. Collins, who had already voted to confirm the alleged sexual predator Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, exploited my story to keep her Senate seat.

I don’t really blame Collins and Gideon so much as I blame the ultra-wealthy and the corporate interests who funded both of them in the form of PACs, and who, in doing so, funded the ads that haunted me on every television and every device that had internet during the 2020 Senate race.

In fact, the big-money donations Collins gained from her “Yes” vote on Kavanaugh went into the same pool that funded her ads — including the ones where she paraded my sexual abuse story as a piece of political theater. There was no room for my voice in the matter.

When the time came, I stood in the voting booth, pen hovering over the two major names on the ballot, feeling like I was selling myself out if I filled in the bubble next to either of them.

While this series of events really happened, it is also symbolic of our country’s current moment: two corporate-backed political parties exploiting the already-exploited youth on behalf of the billionaire class. This results in vote that feels, across issues from sexual abuse to Palestine and now funding the Iran war, like a false choice.

I am writing this essay because Graham Platner remains critical of the billionaires and the two-party system that mined my trauma for political clout (and continues to fail Americans everywhere), because he vehemently advocates for the wishes of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Maine survivors of sexual violence. Regardless of how well or poorly you believe Mills has done as governor, I believe Platner is the candidate who will beat Susan Collins. Recent polling reflects this sentiment, without which I doubt Platner would be so widely discussed in recent weeks and months.

I don’t stand by everything Graham Platner has said and done in the past. Nor does he, for that matter. I don’t stand by everything I’ve said and done in my life either. What matters to me is that Platner has grown as a person to become a candidate who will serve Mainers, not AIPAC, Donald Trump or Chuck Schumer. His platform includes health care for all, campaign finance reform and advocating for working class Mainers — three actions that would materially improve the lives of women like me, young people and Mainers across the board.

Just having a woman in the Senate seat would not necessarily deliver better conditions for all Maine women — especially considering Gov. Mills vetoed a bill that would have reformed rape kit tracking and brought justice to more survivors. Failure to deliver on one’s political promises to survivors is not a success for feminism simply because it comes in the shape of a woman.

Mills apparently vetoed the bill for procedural reasons, and although the bill was resubmitted, it sat unfunded until Platner heard about it and asked how he could be of service. He invited state Rep. Valli Geiger, who had been working for years on the problem, to speak about the bill at one of his rallies. This brought the bill publicity and it was subsequently funded. Platner modeled good allyship for men when he asked how he could use his platform to help survivors and followed through.

Platner also models a path toward growth, accountability and healthy masculinity for men in my age group who want to move on from their past online misogyny and racism. These men, particularly cisgender, straight white men, can put their unique privilege and voices to use in the fight against fascism.

I grew up surrounded by men who work on the Maine waterfront. They taught me how to fish for striper on boats held together by duct tape and spit, they taught me to be opinionated, they urged me to go back to school, and one or two may or may not have fantasized about beating up that former state representative.

I’ve never met Platner, but I know the Platner type. Foulmouthed, drunken tattoo he regrets, class-conscious, hard-working, good-hearted, with a wife who’s way out of his league. Not perfect, but genuinely wants to help his community, like most Mainers I know.

If you are an older woman who is a Democrat, I implore you to listen to young women’s voices in this election. We know that your generation faced normalized sexual harassment, gender-based violence and discrimination at levels women my age could not fathom, and it is thanks to your efforts that we enjoy the rights we do today.

It is important for women to see other women in positions of power. But what does visibility alone do when young women are economically vulnerable, we have lost the protections of Roe v. Wade and we are at risk of being shot in the face by ICE?

Even where it is legal, many of us do not have the insurance to help us access reproductive health care. Our fellow women who are immigrants (or who just happen to be Black or brown) fear getting prenatal care, going to work or leaving their homes at all lest they be detained, deported or killed.

We are rapidly getting priced out of the state we grew up in, the state we still love, and we are not the only ones.

Older feminists, we respect your grit, your wisdom, your life experience and your support of us as our moms, aunts, grandmas, educators, employers and trusted mentors. Your vote is your own. But please consider our perspectives in this Senate race.

Gen Z women and girls cannot grow into the independent, politically informed, healthy individuals you intended us to be with the billionaires bleeding us dry, selling our data, turning our male peers against us via the incel culture on platforms like X and tipping the scales in every election so they can keep doing it.

I don’t have the opportunity to be excited about female representation in the Senate if I can’t afford my textbooks, tuition or rent. I don’t feel empowered by the Democratic establishment when the trans women in my community are being scapegoated at every election loss, or if stories like mine, or those of the survivors of Epstein, are either ignored or used as a political battering ram by campaigns which otherwise couldn’t care less about us.

Identity politics without substance will not save us. This election has serious ramifications for not just women like me or you in Maine, but for women around the globe. For what it’s worth, I don’t feel like a very good feminist with my tax dollars already killing women and girls overseas. I’d feel like an even worse one if I voted for Mills, Collins or any other candidate funded by AIPAC.