Podcast Summary: The New Yorker Radio Hour

Episode: Graham Platner Is Staying in the Race
Original Air Date: December 19, 2025
Host: David Remnick

Overview

This episode features host David Remnick’s in-depth conversation with Graham Platner—a Marine and Army veteran, oyster farmer, and Democratic candidate challenging incumbent Senator Susan Collins in Maine. The discussion explores Platner's path to politics, his controversial online history, his outsider approach to the Democratic Party, his policies, critique of U.S. military intervention, and the lived experience shaping his populist-progressive views. The episode also briefly includes a segment with longtime New Yorker writer Calvin Tompkins reflecting on longevity and creativity at age 100.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Platner’s Unconventional Path to Senate Candidacy

• Recruitment Story ([00:10–03:55])

  • Platner recounts being "recruited" unexpectedly by union leaders in Maine while working as an oyster farmer. He was initially reluctant, saying:

    "We make $60,000 a year and the Senate is not for people. People like us." ([02:41])

  • He and his wife ultimately agreed under the reasoning that "it was the right thing to do."

• Background and Formative Experiences

  • Platner discusses his stint at an elite prep school, which led to him intentionally flunking out due to feeling out of place among wealthy students ([05:09–05:56]).
  • Talks about military service motivated by a deep, almost inevitable personal interest:

    "Since my earliest memories, I wanted to be a soldier. I grew up loving military history. ... It was just something that spoke to me." ([06:47])

  • His time in the military (Marines and National Guard) fostered cynicism about U.S. military interventions, shaping later policy views ([07:34–09:45]).

2. Addressing Past Controversial Comments

• Context and Accountability ([09:45–15:50])
  • Remnick addresses Platner's surfacing online comments (homophobic slurs, controversial sexual assault remarks, "bastards" for police, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol).
  • Platner's framing:

    "If someone over the course of their time on the Internet uses slurs or stupid language and then ceases to do so. Probably a sign of growth. Probably a sign of how many of us change over time." ([11:19])

  • He connects this to a generational issue, suggesting if all "elder Millennials" were scrutinized for every past comment, “we’ll never get around to the policy part.” ([11:06])
  • Platner emphasizes that growth and change should be possible in public life:

    “If we can’t give people the ability to grow as human beings, then we’re all just stuck.” ([14:01])

  • He says it’s “personally unenjoyable” to discuss, but:

    “It also allows me to publicly model something I think is really important, which is that a lot of us go through transitions in life. ... You should be able to be proud of the fact that you can turn into a different kind of person.” ([14:39])

3. The Democratic Party: Critique and Vision

• Platner’s Critique ([18:53–23:43])
  • Platner lays into both major parties’ corporate ties, but reserves special disappointment for Democrats:

    “There is an innate contradiction in trying to be a party that represents working people ... and also trying to represent the interests of those that exploit them.” ([20:26])

  • He argues the party lost its way in the Clinton era, doubling down in the Obama years on Wall Street priorities rather than labor ([21:29–22:29]).
  • Regarding West Virginia’s Manchin-style politics, Platner is skeptical: "I think you can win someone in West Virginia if you run on working class populism." ([23:14])
• Relations with Party Establishment
  • Sharply notes his lack of contact with Senate leadership:

    “Not a single phone call, not a single email from the national party organization.” ([24:10])

  • Contrasts this with Janet Mills, the centrist governor running against him, who was quickly embraced by the D.C. establishment ([24:18–24:37]).

4. Ground Game, Populism, and Grassroots Organizing in Maine

• Campaigning Approach ([25:01–26:35])
  • Emphasizes face-to-face organizing: "We've held 35 town halls ... 12,000 volunteers. ... This is about rebuilding organization in communities."
  • His message resonates with widespread voter discontent toward establishment politicians.

5. Policy Priorities

• Platner's Top Issues ([26:35–27:38])

  • Universal Healthcare / Medicare for All
  • Banning Congressional Stock Trading: "It's essentially legalized corruption."
  • Tax Reform: "We cannot continue to tax wages at a higher rate than we tax wealth."
  • Notes bipartisan opportunities for the latter two.

• On Campaign Finance ([27:38–28:12])

  • Refuses money from corporate PACs, fossil fuel companies, and dark money groups; accepts only from labor/PACs not tied to “the corporate dark money apparatus.”

6. Foreign Policy, Military Experience, and War Powers

• Critique of Current Military Actions ([28:12–30:13])

  • Cites Venezuela operations as a "rehash of Iraq ... but even dumber."
  • Says U.S. military power is abused for political gain, not strategic necessity.

• On Military Service ([30:13–32:34])

  • Describes his combat experience as a machine gunner in Ramadi, Iraq: "I saw more combat than most, less than some."
  • Skeptical of current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's posturing: "You definitely get the feeling this is someone who is trying to make up for something... didn’t stay in."

• Legislative Priorities for Veterans ([32:34–33:54])

  • Main policy: Reining in the president's war powers, returning congressional control as per the Constitution.

7. Populist Critique of the System and the Political Era

• What’s Broken ([35:02–39:16])

  • Platner sees a new era of power politics emerging in the U.S., akin to the Gilded Age—“an era of politics of power ... understanding how to organize people.”
  • Interprets Trumpism as having harnessed genuine working-class frustration, acknowledging: "He’s giving them all the wrong answers. ... But I do understand why people voted for him ... because they feel like this whole thing does not represent them." ([36:30–38:58])

• On Capitalism and Labels

  • Platner rejects the "democratic socialist" label, framing his views as seeking to curb “the worst version” of capitalism through taxation, regulation, and anti-monopoly enforcement ([39:16–40:15]).

8. Personal Experience with Economic Hardship

• On the System’s Failures ([40:15–45:23])
  • Platner credits the VA and his veteran status for affording him health care, which allowed him to build a life as a small business owner ([42:02–43:56]).
  • He contrasts that with the lack of options for most working people, noting the "immense amount of freedom" health care provided him.
  • Tells stories of friends whose rents consume 60% of their income, with nowhere to turn; ties this suffering to increasing wealth at the top:

    "I refuse to believe that I've watched people in my community watch their material conditions deteriorate at the exact same time that we watched Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk exist. I refuse to believe that these two things are not connected." ([45:10])

Notable Quotes

• On Change and Accountability:

  "People grow all the time. ... It also gives me the opportunity to publicly show that you can believe things once and then ... believe other things. ... You should be able to be proud of the fact that you can turn into a different kind of person."
  —Graham Platner ([14:01–14:39])

• On the Democratic Party:

  "It is impossible to represent their interests while also trying to represent the interests of those that exploit them."
  —Graham Platner ([20:26])

• On Populism and Political Disaffection:

  "If you ask [Mainers], do you think you live in a political or economic system that benefits you? Nobody says yes."
  —Graham Platner ([36:15])

  "What Trump did is Trump came along and he told people that what they knew was true was true, which is that they are being robbed, that the system is not representing them. He's giving them all the wrong answers ... but I do understand why people voted for him."
  —Graham Platner ([36:56–37:52])

• On Wealth Disparity:

  "I'm watching my community suffer and become harder and harder to live in for working people while we watch the richest people in the history of people exist. Those two things are not disconnected."
  —Graham Platner ([45:18])

• On Senate Ambitions:

  "I would like to be a senator that accomplishes things. ... I think we are coming into a different era in American politics ... an era of politics of power ... understanding how to organize people." —Graham Platner ([34:43–35:46])

Memorable Moments

• Platner explains his failed prep school experience:

  "I figured out very quickly that if I didn't go to class, then I got to go home. And that is exactly what happened." ([05:49])

• Stance on oyster consumption:

  "No, I eat them all the time. ... Cocktail sauce is heresy."
  —Graham Platner ([45:49–45:54])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Recruitment to Senate run: [00:10–03:55]
• Military history & worldview: [06:47–09:45]
• Handling past controversial comments: [09:45–15:50]
• Critique of Democratic Party: [19:50–23:43]
• Outsider status vs. establishment: [23:43–24:37]
• Policy priorities: [26:43–27:38]
• On war powers & foreign policy: [28:12–33:54]
• Systemic critique & Trumpism: [35:02–39:16]
• Personal economic experience: [40:15–45:23]

Brief: Calvin Tompkins Segment ([47:48–52:45])

David Remnick and Calvin Tompkins (aging New Yorker writer) reflect on aging, artistic curiosity, and the importance of living life fully and creatively even at 100. Tompkins shares his approach to writing and art criticism, always remaining curious and open to the new.

"I don't know what I'm doing. I never have known what I'm doing. ... You just have to keep trying, keep trying, keep pushing out the words."
—Calvin Tompkins ([51:14])

Conclusion

This episode captures the rise of a working-class, populist candidate navigating controversy, disillusionment with mainstream politics, and the promise of transformative change. Platner’s unpolished honesty, policy focus on working people, and scathing critique of the political status quo position him as both representative of a political inflection point and a test case for whether American politics is ready to embrace real change.