Cory Booker

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said Sunday he has "concerns" about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after reports that the Democratic front-runner allegedly exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women, the latest blow to a campaign that party leaders had counted on to flip the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

With the Maine primary nine days away and the Senate in play, two other Democrats who appeared on various Sunday shows kept their distance from the candidate without abandoning him.

"Yes, I have concerns. That guy has questions to answer," Booker told ABC's "This Week," responding to a question from Jonathan Karl about whether the controversies could imperil Democratic hopes in Maine.

Booker did not say whether he would campaign for Platner, instead pivoting to the broader stakes of Senate control and warning that Democratic losses in November would leave the country with an out-of-control president.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., declined on CNN's "State of the Union" to say whether he was uneasy about the nominee, telling Dana Bash, "I will work with whoever the people of Maine elect, but I hope that they elect somebody that is going to stand up to this president."

On CBS's "Face the Nation," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., went further, defending the candidate's biography while sidestepping the texts.

"Graham Platner is somebody that served our country, he served his community, he's also made mistakes," Murphy said, adding that Platner has admitted as much.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported Saturday that Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, told a campaign aide last August that she had found sexually explicit messages on her husband's phone earlier that spring.

According to the Journal, the disclosure came as aides ran opposition research on their own candidate ahead of a Labor Day rally where Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was set to formally endorse Platner; aides decided the texts were a private matter, and the rally went forward.

The Times reported that Platner exchanged messages with as many as a dozen women; the campaign told the paper the number was closer to six.

CNN separately verified an active Kik account in Platner's name on the encrypted messaging app, which the campaign said the candidate had deleted from his phone but never deactivated.

Gertner, who married Platner in 2023, struck back in a five-minute video released by his campaign Saturday night.

She called the coverage "gossip" and said she felt angry and disappointed that outlets were focused on her marriage rather than her husband's platform on health care, child care, and education. She also acknowledged that the couple is in marriage counseling.