\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday endorsed political outsider Graham Platner, the populist oyster farmer running to oust Maine\u2019s Republican Sen. Susan Collins.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile national Democrats have been eyeing Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) for the Senate race, Platner arrived as an unexpected progressive contender, pitching himself to those frustrated with the party\u2019s inefficacy in Congress and growing class inequality.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe need senators in Washington who are prepared to take on the billionaire class and fight for working people,\u201d Sanders said in a statement. \u201cThis is why I am proud to endorse Graham Platner for U.S. Senate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHe added, \u201cGraham is a Marine and Army National Guard veteran, an oyster farmer, and a proud member of America\u2019s working class. He\u2019s a Mainer through and through, and he is building a movement strong enough to take on the oligarchy that is making Maine unaffordable for all except a privileged few.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSanders is hosting a rally with Platner and logger turned Maine gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson in Portland, Maine, on Monday. The Labor Day event location was changed from an auditorium to a much larger arena based on the number of expected attendees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tPlatner, 40, announced his bid for office earlier this month. Since that time, he raised $1 million in nine days, with an average contribution of $33, according to his campaign. He calls himself a \u201cfriend of the working Mainer, foe of the oligarchy\u201d in his bio on X.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe said on X he was \u201chonored beyond words\u201d to have Sanders\u2019 endorsement. \u201cTogether we\u2019re going to defeat Susan Collins and take back our government for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCollins, who is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has drawn Mainers\u2019 frustration for voting to advance Donald Trump\u2019s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which slashed taxes for the rich and will take away health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile Collins has a reputation as a moderate, she voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump\u2019s unqualified, science-hating Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Trump\u2019s budget director Russell Vought, who famously said of government workers: \u201cWe want to put them in trauma.\u201d She also cast a crucial vote to confirm Trump\u2019s controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during the president\u2019s first term, paving the way for conservatives to end the federal right to an abortion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
\n\tEarlier this week, about 200 protesters shouted \u201cshame\u201d and \u201cstop funding genocide\u201d at Collins at a ribbon-cutting event in a small coastal town in Maine. She was met with more protesters later in the week during a visit to a food bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOur concern is that she hasn\u2019t had a town hall in 20 years, she\u2019s not talking to her constituents, she\u2019s supporting a fascist government,\u201d Indivisible Sagadahoc Co-leader Jessica Mahnae told WGME.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not fooled by this fake charade of Collins\u2019 deliberations and moderation,\u201d Platner said in a campaign video. \u201cThe difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is at least Ted Cruz is honest about selling us out and not giving a damn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tPlatner, who was voted \u201cmost likely to start a revolution\u201d in high school, has not held back in his rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNothing pisses me off more than getting a fundraising text from Democrats talking about how they\u2019re fighting fascism,\u201d Platner posted on X shortly after he stepped into the race. \u201cBecause it\u2019s such bullshit. We\u2019re not idiots. Everyone knows most of them aren\u2019t doing jack shit right now to fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
\n\t\u201cPeople are being kidnapped into unmarked vans by masked police,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere is a genocide happening in Palestine. Literal billionaires have taken over our government. And all Democratic leadership can do is send us another fundraising text?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMills, the 77-year-old governor, remains a possible contender from establishment Democrats. She said Wednesday that she is \u201cseriously considering\u201d a run for Collins\u2019 seat, the Portland Press Herald <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday endorsed political outsider Graham Platner, the populist oyster farmer running to oust Maine\u2019s Republican Sen. Susan Collins. While national Democrats have been eyeing Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) for the Senate race, Platner arrived as an unexpected progressive contender, pitching himself to those frustrated with the party\u2019s inefficacy in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[11253,11263,11261,3711,11262,7844,11012],"class_list":{"0":"post-18453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bernie","9":"tag-collins","10":"tag-endorses","11":"tag-graham","12":"tag-platner","13":"tag-sanders","14":"tag-susan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}