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Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner appeared alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Monday and echoed several Sanders-style progressive themes, criticizing five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, criticizing and U.S. weapons spending tied to conflicts in Gaza and Iran.
Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee seeking to unseat Collins in November, made the fiery remarks during a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally led by Sanders in Portland — an event aimed at mobilizing progressive activists and expanding grassroots organizing efforts ahead of the midterm elections. The Portland event was one of Sanders’ Maine stops with Platner and gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson.
During the rally, Platner leaned heavily into anti-corporate rhetoric, telling a crowd of cheering progressives they must build a “political revolution” and take back “what is ours.”
“We are taking back what is ours. We’re going to take it back from the corporations that seek profit, no matter the cost from the billionaires for whom greed is the point, and from corrupt politicians like Susan Collins, corrupt politicians who have sold us out,” Platner said.
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“It is a system that is the politics of Susan Collins, a politics that turns politicians into millionaires, but tells you to be grateful for crumbs.”
Throughout the evening, Platner echoed Sanders’ economic talking points, accusing health insurance executives of “lining their pockets with our blood, sweat, and tears.”
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He also made sharp comments regarding the Middle East, claiming American tax dollars are being weaponized to “blow up someone else’s children.”
“Our tax dollars can build schools and hospitals in America instead of bombs to drop on them in Gaza and Iran,” he said.
Sanders later took the stage and cast Platner’s election as a key moment for the progressive movement, telling supporters, “You elect Graham Platner senator, you’re going to transform America.”
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The Vermont senator explicitly tied Platner to his tax proposals targeting the ultra-wealthy.
“I introduced legislation, which Graham will be by my side in fighting for, which says that we are going to impose a 5% annual wealth tax on 938 billionaires in America,” Sanders said. Sanders introduced legislation earlier this year proposing a 5% annual wealth tax on 938 U.S. billionaires.
Platner was also portrayed as an ally in battling major tech billionaires such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, warning that a “handful of billionaires” could otherwise control the future of artificial intelligence and robotics.
“Graham understands… we are not going to let a handful of billionaires control the future of this country,” Sanders said.