Democrat Senate Candidate’s Wife Releases Bizarre Video That Backfires Spectacularly

Liberty Check

• Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner’s wife released a five-minute defense video that critics are calling ‘damage control’ after allegations of sexually explicit texts with multiple women
• The video confirmed mental health struggles and infidelity issues but did not deny the reporting, leading X users to compare it to a ‘hostage video’
• National Republicans and even some Democrats are questioning why the campaign is using his wife to defend serious allegations instead of the candidate himself

When scandal hits a political campaign, the last thing you’d expect is for the candidate’s wife to step in front of the camera while the candidate hides. But that’s exactly what happened Saturday when Amy Gertner, wife of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, released a five-minute video that’s being widely panned as a desperate damage control attempt.

The video came hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner exchanged sexual text messages with several women after he and Gertner were married. Instead of the candidate addressing the allegations himself, his wife took the heat.

“So it makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on — like healthcare and education and childcare,” Gertner said.

But Americans aren’t buying it. The reaction on X was swift and brutal.

“It looks and sounds like a hostage video,” one X user responded. “Blink twice if you need rescuing, Amy.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee press secretary Samantha Cantrell didn’t hold back in her assessment.

“Graham Platner admitted to sexually explicit text messages with over a dozen women and having an account on a ‘predator paradise’ child exploitation app, then had his wife – a victim of his deviant actions – defend it,” Cantrell told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

The controversy comes as Platner, a progressive oyster farmer running to unseat moderate incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has drawn support from national Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who previously praised him by saying, “That’s my kind of man.”

In the video, Gertner admitted the couple’s struggles with what she described as the challenges of being newly married.

“Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard. Being newly married, going through infertility, and a Senate campaign is hard.”

She also revealed they’re in marriage counseling and individual therapy.

“I don’t even know if I have the right words to describe what we’ve been going through, but our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham’s personal counselor helps, and we work on our mental health every day,” Gertner added. “No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage, and I want to be married to Graham.”

But critics weren’t sympathetic to what they saw as a scripted performance designed to save a sinking campaign.

“It’s not your wife’s job to defend your infidelity, creep,” writer Emily Zanotti wrote on X.

Zanotti added another observation that should worry the Platner campaign.

“The big problem here is that this story only covers what exists out there: potentially dozens of emails, text messages, and videos Platner sent to who-knows-how-many women, which the campaign is now praying aren’t next to be leaked.”

Even some Democrats were appalled by the spectacle. Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, expressed empathy for Gertner but questioned Platner’s fitness for office.

“I have incredible empathy for a woman who’s just had a miscarriage having to make a video defending her husband’s infidelities,” Watts wrote on X. “But a man so damaged by combat – according to him and his family – that he’s said and done destructive things for decades needs to recover, not run for Senate.”

The video also raised eyebrows for what it confirmed. Gertner acknowledged her husband’s mental health struggles and notably did not deny the reporting about the sexually explicit texts.

“I knew the man that I married is wonderful and dynamic and probably a genius,” Gertner said. “I knew the man that I married had been through an immense amount of violent active combat. He’s been in therapy for years. I just I admire the f— out of him.”

She continued: “So when there are news articles about our marriage, it’s just extra sh—-. Can I say that online? I hope I can.”

Critics were quick to point out the irony of Gertner complaining about attacks while her husband’s campaign has been ruthlessly attacking his opponent.

Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell called out the hypocrisy directly.

“Have you read your husband’s campaign attacks, press releases and X posts?” Grenell wrote on X. “You think you all get a free ride to brutally attack others and not get criticized yourself?”

He added: “Put on your big girl pants – he’s running for 1 of the 100 Senate seats.”

Just hours before Gertner’s video was posted, the Platner campaign X account attacked Collins with harsh language.

“Susan Collins is spineless and corrupt,” the campaign post read. “And in 157 days, we will defeat her.”

Social media users also noted troubling details within the video itself. Gertner admitted “this is like my 20th take,” raising questions about how scripted and rehearsed the statement was. She also mentioned she “got married in 2023,” meaning the alleged infidelity happened very quickly into their marriage.

One self-proclaimed 2028 Kamala Harris supporter even expressed concern for Gertner’s safety, urging her to contact Maine State Police “so they can remove his firearms from your home.”

Another X user wrote: “Shame on Graham for putting her in this position.”

The campaign has not responded to requests for comment about why the candidate himself hasn’t addressed the allegations directly.

After the withdrawal of Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills from the primary, Platner is his party’s presumptive nominee in Maine’s Senate race before the June 9 primary. However, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., is the most prominent Democrat publicly pushing back, calling Platner’s Nazi-linked tattoo “personally disqualifying” and urging Maine voters to reject him.

Collins has served in the Senate for 29 years since January 3, 1997. Democrats have long targeted Collins for a potential Senate seat flip in the closely divided Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

Americans deserve better.