Graham Platner responds to reports that he sent sexually explicit text messages

Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is responding to reports that came out over the weekend about sexually explicit text messages he sent multiple women.

"Amy and I went through something hard -- because of me," Platner said in a statement to the media Sunday night, referring to his wife Amy Gertner. "We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day."

Platner went on to say "that people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids."

Gertner alerted his Democratic Maine U.S. Senate campaign in 2025 about sexually explicit text messages her husband exchanged with multiple women, according to reports published by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on Saturday.

The reports say that after Platner announced he would run for Senate, Gertner informed the campaign about communications that she located. The Wall Street Journal reported that months later, Gertner "disclosed the texts to a campaign aide" and that aides ultimately determined that the messages were a private matter being handled in marriage counseling.

Platner is the presumptive Maine Democratic Senate nominee against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Maine Gov. Janet Mills previously suspended her Democratic primary campaign, though she is expected to remain on the ballot during the June 9 primary. Democrat David Costello will also be on the ballot.

Polling from the University of New Hampshire released days prior to Saturday’s reports found that nearly three-quarters of likely Democratic primary voters had a positive impression of Platner and that in the general election, 51% of likely voters would support Platner and 42% would support Collins.

Former Platner campaign political director Genevieve McDonald reportedly told The New York Times that Gertner feared Platner’s behavior could become a political liability and that he "had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women."

McDonald did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

Platner’s campaign posted a selfie-style video recorded by Gertner on social media Saturday evening. Gertner said in the video that she and Platner "love each other deeply" and that it is "really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on."

Gertner added that Platner has been in therapy for years.

"No marriage is perfect and I don't want a perfect marriage," she said in the video. "I want my marriage and I want to be married to Graham."

Gertner also released a prepared statement in which she said that she shared personal information about her marriage with someone she thought of as a friend. Gertner did not name who she was referring to.

"I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives -- the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind -- and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy," she said.

In a social media post Saturday, Morris Katz, who has advised Platner, wrote, “It’s no one’s f------ business what happened in Graham & Amy’s marriage before he was ever a candidate for office. There should be no place in our politics for incompetent, opportunistic operatives who violate privacy, betray trust, and prioritize vengeance over decency."

With the primary election taking place in eight days, Platner is continuing to campaign, releasing a new ad Monday morning.

ABC News has reached out to Platner's campaign for comment on him staying in the race.