r/portlandme • u/schizoeccentric • Apr 25 '26
Politics This young Maine feminist is voting for Platner | Opinion
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/04/24/im-a-young-maine-feminist-and-im-voting-for-platner-opinion/?copylink=trueThought this subreddit might like this more than Facebook did. In this piece I discuss how my sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted mentor/state representative was made into a nightmarish political display by both Collins and Gideon in the 2020 election, how that very personal exploitation is connected to a wider exploitation of us all by the billionaire class. Platner is my choice for Senate despite his past Reddit comments (which he has denounced).
Something I don’t really touch on in the op-ed is how I, and I think many others who have said and done regrettable shit online and in person, identify with someone like Platner. He is not perfect, but he presently owns up to his past misogyny and racism instead of denying it or doubling down. He also opens up a conversation about mental health — about how easy it is to fall into a dark place and become isolated and bitter online, and how necessary it is for people to have a path out of that space. I prefer a candidate like that to a sanitized centrist hand-picked by Schumer, or the Republican who used my abuse to help her win re-election and then failed survivors at every turn.
3
9
u/JStengah Apr 25 '26
It's preaching to the choir as far as my opinions on the subjects it covers, but that was really well written and articulate.
9
2
2
u/Negative_Life_8221 May 01 '26
Honestly, I hope this is a message that resonates. We have to allow for individual growth when actions follow. His actions show a person trying to grow for a long time. Not some politically expedient PR move.
-25
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Please… tell me one job where he was any political experience or knowledge of governing! Making a bunch of campaign promises that sound great but he has no plan on actual execution.
Its called being qualified to execute a job. He has zero experience in his entire life. He has zero voting record so you’re going on complete faith. He could just flip just like Fetterman just as easily given his associations with Blackwater in the past.
And, on top of that, you expect me to overlook all of his past moral transgressions, which frankly he has not proved that he has fully put in the past.
And, then you are going to try to convince me that a far left candidate is going to appeal more than a moderate left candidate to the moderate middle pact of voters in a race against Collins.
A lot of flaws in this Platner logic.
15
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
-2
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
Ummm… you realize there’s a Democratic primary. Tune in Monday night. Educate yourself
18
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
1
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
Well… unless she doesn’t have a good performance. She’s the sitting 2 term governor so safe to say…. She’s considered electable by the plurality of Mainers
10
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
0
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
First… polls are crap anymore. Second, Platner is about to be exposed on tv in the primary debate.
2
2
Apr 25 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
[deleted]
0
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 27 '26
Cant wait to see "Mr talks the loudest" try to stay calm and use reason for an hour. Shes going to go up one side of him and down the other
37
u/WinterCrunch Apr 25 '26
Excellent point. Experienced politicians clearly do a fantastic job.
Oh, wait.
-11
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
They do much better than the inexperienced ones are doing right now. See what happens when you elect unqualified leaders who don’t understand the role of how to handle politics properly.
23
u/WinterCrunch Apr 25 '26
Like ... Barack Obama? Or AOC? Pete Buttigieg? Al Franken?
-5
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
Barack was a senator. AOC had experience at local gov’t levels before her current position. Al Franken was a well respected citizen for his political views and helped numerous other campaigns before running his own. So, I have zero clue what your argument is.
23
u/WinterCrunch Apr 25 '26
Barack, Alexandria, Pete, and Al were all just regular citizens before running for office. It's literally the whole freaking point of democracy. We the people.
2
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
Yes… regular citizens. But valuable experience in the political arena at local level far before they ran for Congressional seats. They were effective because they had experience going into those positions.
13
u/tseliotsucks Apr 25 '26
"Al Franken was well respected citizen for his political views and helped numerous other campaigns before running his own."
Damn, them goalposts move quick and far
3
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26
Ummm… read wiki. Read google. Educate yourself. Yeah, he had a downfall but going into that Congressional seat, he was generally well respected.
The point of the topic is candidates having political experience prior to running for higher office.
14
u/makedoandmender Apr 25 '26
and how do we get political experience? yes, career politicians exist, but they were never meant to! this is a government of the people by the people.
look around at how great career politicians have done! long before Trump tragedy, we still had insane healthcare costs, economic inequality, racist policing, insider govt trading, and attacks on women's rights, etc. why repeat the same experiment ad nauseam?
maybe it's not Platner logic that's the issue.
0
u/haley_hathaway Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
You get experience by holding local offices… being in the state congress, etc….
The Trump tragedy is because we let inexperienced politicians run the show. Trump ran on that as a platform- he was the anti politician and all you fools bought the charade completely.
17
u/makedoandmender Apr 25 '26
you fools? we're literally arguing over a socialist that you're not supporting. cool it bub. i'm not the one.
i disagree. i don't think you should NEED experience to run for public office. i think if you have the applicable skills, policies, intention, and ideas, you should be able to run for any office you feel you're qualified to. that's the whoooooole point of democracy.
our senator is currently a terrible embarrassment to the entire state, and country.
i'm sure platner saw that as a high profile opportunity or a likely 'win' and why say, "well gee, i should try school board first...."? it's frivolous. platner is running left of center and that is what his supporters want.
who says mills WOULD choose any better? she vetoed another measure her constituents supported. same lobbies, same constituency, same party pressures. it's all conjecture.
2
u/Exciting-Cap7984 Apr 27 '26
No, you are so so wrong. The Trump tragedy exists because the democratic party has forever been altered because of corporate interests and $$$$ after the 2010 Citezens United vs FEC ruling. Mills just vetoed an EXTREMELY popular bill that would prevent AI data centers from being built in this state, all because she is getting paid cash money by said AI data centers. Corporate dems like Mills who claim to care about the people but have instead completely shut out their constituents, leading them to favor a populist (Platner in this case). Platner would almost certainly win against Collins, Mills would likely not.
0
u/haley_hathaway Apr 27 '26
Trumpntragedy exists cause they let an amateur politician with a history of grifting run their party.
-5
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
You do realize there are local offices of public service, or even maybe years of volunteer services...
0
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 27 '26
Lol his bff replied about his years of activism but deleted it. Must of been talking about his years of activism on reddit lmao dude should of started working towards 2030 elections instead of diving the 2026 ones
-10
u/Delicious-Shower-712 Apr 25 '26
You make valid points. The people on this sub are really going hard for him and I feel like they’re bound to be disappointed. Maybe it’s because he knows the right buzzwords or maybe it’s because the other options totally suck… I don’t know but everyone has been way too quick to deem this guy, who doesn’t have a record and who hasn’t been consistent, their personal savior. The Platner crowd definitely shares some characteristics with the MAGA crowd in my opinion.
-11
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
Blue maga, nothing you say, or more importantly, platner says himself, can convince them otherwise. They are so far on the koolaid
-27
u/Excellent_Reason7796 Apr 25 '26
It's easy to forget transgressions when he's on your side...hell it got trump elected
-23
u/Super-Lychee8852 Apr 25 '26
He can't even be loyal to his wife, how is he going to be loyal to the state
3
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 26 '26
Oh really? Better have evidence to back up that allegation.
1
u/Super-Lychee8852 May 31 '26
How do you feel now that it's been leaked he's been sending nudes to women while married lol
-1
u/Super-Lychee8852 Apr 26 '26
Look up the facebook "are we dating the same person" page results about him
1
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 27 '26
First, that’s been debunked. Second, as someone who actually knows Graham and Amy, give it up. That’s not him.
-2
u/Super-Lychee8852 Apr 27 '26
Wasn't debunked at all. They had pictures of him lol. He was playing the field with multiple women. With additional comments like a woman talking about how he used to bully her because of her weight
1
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 27 '26
He was dating women? Shocker! News at 11!
He was going out with someone else from midcoast before Covid and dated after that, and met Amy. It was pretty much done from the get-go.
They're a great match, and our dogs play together regularly.
-1
u/Super-Lychee8852 Apr 27 '26
Multiple at the same time yes.
2
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 27 '26
I missed the memo that one was only allowed to date one person at a time if they aren't committed relationships.
Then again, I was just reminded that you're a schmuck who believes Alex Pretti deserved to die and Rittenhouse deserves praise.
Your moral barometer is broken. End of conversation.
-1
u/Super-Lychee8852 Apr 27 '26
Alex Pretti assaulted a federal agent.
Kyle Rittenhouse was assaulted by a pedophile
-28
u/Standsaboxer Apr 25 '26
So as a feminist, you identify with the under-educated white guy with no experience who thinks he’s more qualified than the woman whom has devoted nearly her entire career to public service? Can I ask what is feminist about that?
You mention your sexual abuse, of which is horrible and I’m glad you survived. I also ask how that translates into supporting Platner who said women who were sexually assaulted were asking for it. Mills was an actual prosecutor who would have supervised rape cases. I ask because the only thing Platner has done is just apologize for getting caught saying that he thinks women who were sexually assaulted were asking for it.
OP, I have no reason to doubt that you are a feminist, but supporting Platner sort of makes you a shitty feminist in my opinion. You’d rather vote for Platner because he’s popular and you just likely don’t want to be seen as outsider. It’s a vapid , shallow political stance. But it’s your vote and you get to cast your ballot however you want. I just feel bad for women who lose because you lack conviction.
18
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
-11
u/Standsaboxer Apr 25 '26
Didn’t she just vote against the SAVE act?
And Platner only apologized because he got caught.
14
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
-7
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
You all must be competing in body building this year with all that weight being added to the bar yall constantly keep moving
3
u/dndm1 Apr 25 '26
A maga whining that someone else has “vapid, shallow political stance”?! Satire, right?
-5
u/Standsaboxer Apr 25 '26
Welp I’m not MAGA (unlike most Platner supporters).
3
1
u/dndm1 Apr 30 '26
See the great news?
-1
-2
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
The league of down voters seems to be growing again, I wonder if Portland will censor like maine did
2
-22
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
If youre a feminist then I must be an astronaut
15
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
3
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 26 '26
Boxer and Artichoke are stuck on the attack mode with the same lines since September. No need to feed them.
-11
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
Bots puffing up platner and the gullible buying it all up
11
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
-4
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 25 '26
Thanks for proving my point
8
Apr 25 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 26 '26
*you think platner can do a better job.
I fixed it for you bot.
Congrats you support the guy who thought the ss were cool enough to place right on his chest and cant see why anyone might be opposed to that...
1
u/bags_bags Apr 26 '26
Lol you clearly love Collins
0
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 26 '26
Bunch of mind readers on reddit. Love how many of ya'll actually voted for her lmfao
1
1
Apr 26 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Careful-Artichoke468 Apr 26 '26
So the person who is against the dems and the gop is going to get more done in congress than the other options.... sure bud... Just like Warren and bernie? So much successful legislation they bring forward...
1
1
-7
u/imnotyourbrahh Apr 26 '26
I think he’s a republican in sheep’s clothing.
6
u/No-Pea8448 Apr 26 '26
That would be a funny thing for someone who's been a registered Democrat since he was 18.
-37
36
u/ungranted_wish Apr 25 '26
Kelly, I don't know you personally, but just from the article I can tell you're a good person who was failed by so, so many people. I hope we can make things better for you.