Maine Primary Heats Up as Collins Race Draws National Eyes (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: So why am I in Portland, Maine in January? Well, there's a huge Senate race here. And Democrats can't take back the majority without defeating Susan Collins, who after three decades in the Senate is in the race of her career. I've been able to get a lot done for the state of Maine and for our country. The Republicans' Maine super PAC just announced plans to spend a whopping $42 million in the final weeks of the campaign. But there is a Democratic primary that is gonna be kind of vicious.

[00:00:36] Speaker 2: Now, Maine deserves better than Susan Collins, but Maine also deserves an alternative who is not at risk of being beholden to the same corporate apparatus that she is.

[00:00:47] Speaker 3: My life is an open book. I don't have any tattoos or any social media. Trust me on that. Go, Maine.

[00:00:54] Speaker 1: We have the two-term incumbent governor, Janet Mills, someone who's favored by Democratic leaders in Washington, and then the progressive newcomer, Graham Platner, someone who is backed by Bernie Sanders.

[00:01:08] Speaker 2: We need to use the tax code to get the money back that was stolen from the working people of this country.

[00:01:15] Speaker 1: Hello. She would be the oldest freshman senator in history, if elected, at the age of 79. And, of course, we are living in the post-Joe Biden era.

[00:01:26] Speaker 3: Oh, I'm not Joe Biden, for God's sake. I'm healthy. I'm the only one in this primary who's been elected to anything. And I'm the only one in this primary who's stood up to Donald Trump to his face, and I'll do it again in the United States Senate.

[00:01:41] Speaker 2: As you've probably seen, there's a story that's broken about comments I made on Reddit in an earlier part of my life.

[00:01:47] Speaker 1: Now, Platner has had to weather a number of controversies in this race, including his past social-media posts, a tattoo that had Nazi imagery, all of which he said they were mistakes from his past. He linked it to his time serving in the Marines. Will any of those come back to haunt him, and will other controversies emerge? That's one of the questions of an untested candidate in a race of this magnitude.

[00:02:12] Speaker 2: I've discussed it very publicly and very honestly. I've been happy to discuss the fact that I used to believe things I don't believe today.

[00:02:20] Speaker 1: Platner also goes much further than Mills over some of the key debates within their party.

[00:02:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, ICE needs to be dismantled.

[00:02:27] Speaker 1: Should Democrats consider voting to shut the government down, part of the federal government down over ICE?

[00:02:33] Speaker 2: Absolutely. And not just over ICE.

[00:02:35] Speaker 3: I think there's a role for immigration enforcement under a new, a reformed immigration process and law.

[00:02:42] Speaker 1: That was two weeks ago. Mills has since called on funding for ICE to be cut off. And after the fatal shooting of Alex Prenti by immigration officers, she demanded Congress reject a Homeland Security funding bill until changes are made.