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Lever Time

BONUS: An Exclusive Interview With Graham Platner

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8560 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, in a special live interview, David Sirota sat down with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.  Platner is a military veteran and oyster farmer who is a first-time political candidate running in the Democratic primary in the race to challenge Republican Senate incumbent Susan Collins. His rough-around-the-edges campaign has resonated with Maine’s working-class voters, sending him surging in the polls. But his past social media comments have surfaced in the last few weeks, thrusting him into controversy and pushing voters to ask: does Platner still have a shot at winning the Senate seat, and should he?  As a special bonus episode, we’re releasing the unedited audio of that interview. Click here to watch the video on YouTube. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews like this one by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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The Lever.

1:21.1

From the Lever's reader-supported newsroom, this is Lever Time.

1:24.5

I'm David Serota.

1:26.1

This week, in a special live interview, I sat down with

1:30.2

Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner. Plattner is a military veteran, an oyster farmer,

1:36.2

who's a first-time political candidate running in the Democratic primary in the race to challenge

1:41.3

Republican Senate incumbent Susan Collins. Graham Platner's rough-around-the-edges campaign has resonated with Maine's working-class voters,

1:49.0

sending him surging in the polls.

...

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