Augusta, Maine - An attack ad launched by Maine Governor Janet Mills against her Democratic Senate primary opponent, Graham Platner, has drawn sharp criticism from Democratic voters.

Mills came under pressure during a Zoom call with the Hancock County Democrats, which was leaked to Drop Site News, for running an ad highlighting offensive comments Platner made on Reddit in 2013 about rape victims.

The messages surfaced in October 2025 amid a separate scandal and were widely shared and covered in the media, and party members saw the ad as attempt to play dirty against an opponents who is far ahead in recent polls.

"I'm a member of the MeToo generation, and I was offended by your ad," one woman told Mills. "I'd very much like you to run a clean campaign."

"Let's have a positive campaign. I don't think anyone should be attacking another Democrat, right before the primary, and using underhanded means and that kind of language," she insisted. "Speak about what you have done, don't demolish the other candidate."

In response, Mills sought to justify her ad as being in the public interest and "about electability," saying that voters have a "right to know."

"I don't have any Reddit posts to hide. I don't have any tattoos, believe me. The electability issue is the issue of this primary," she said.