Senate hopeful Graham Platner has spoken out against media outlets for allegedly trying to 'rip apart' his marriage amid a controversy surrounding explicit texts with other women.
Platner, an oyster farmer and former US marine, dismissed the allegations, saying 'Amy and I have a very loving and very happy marriage'.
He accused the media of focusing on gossip instead of discussing 'material realities' in the race, including low pay for teachers and nurses and Mainers' paychecks not going as far as they used to.
Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, had previously alleged that her husband exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women during their marriage, but Platner denied the allegations, calling them 'gossip' and 'journalistic malpractice'.
The controversy has sparked a debate about Platner's past racist, sexist, and homophobic online posts, as well as a now-covered-up tattoo of a Totenkopf, recognized as a Nazi symbol.
