Maine's Graham Platner Floats Jailing Billionaires in 2-Month Election Plan, Drawing GOP Backlash
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 9
Maine's Graham Platner Floats Jailing Billionaires in 2-Month Election Plan, Drawing GOP Backlash
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 9
Summary
Graham Platner told a Maine campaign crowd Sunday that elections should last 2 months, be publicly funded and that a billionaire who viewed a TV ad "the wrong way" would be jailed.
The remark came in a pre-primary speech pitching universal health care, wealth taxes and a Green New Deal, sharpening the progressive message of his challenge to Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Republicans seized on the comment as extreme, with Maine GOP officials calling it "Marxist dystopia" and Collins' campaign saying Platner's team has already spent more than $14 million before the primary.
The backlash adds to a string of controversies around Platner, including allegations from ex-girlfriends, reports of sexually explicit Kik messages and earlier scrutiny over a tattoo linked by critics to a Nazi symbol and old Reddit posts.