Kirsten Gillibrand

Powerful Democratic senators are strengthening their support for Maine’s Graham Planter, whose Tuesday primary win confirms the party’s nominee in a race for incumbent Republican Susan Collins’s seat.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, affirmed their allegiance to the embattled oysterman in a late-night statement. Platner weathered a storm of scandals in the weeks leading up to his dominating victory over Governor Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign in late April.

He will now face a five-term senator who has managed to stay in power through a careful balance of conservative initiatives and pushback to President Donald Trump in an increasingly liberal state.

“Susan Collins has never been more vulnerable after she voted with Trump 96 percent of the time, confirmed his far-right judicial nominees, and took millions from special interests while voting to rip health care away from Mainers,” Schumer and Gillibrand said in their statement. “In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”

Schumer supported Mills until she dropped out, when Platner, despite various controversies, won the backing of influential Democrats. His past social media posts, Nazi-like tattoo and treatment of women has stunted his campaign momentum, but most powerful Democrats have stood by the oyster farmer.

“Any of those who feel let down or disappointed or disillusioned, it is my job to earn your trust, faith and support,” Platner said in his victory speech. “And I will spend every day of this campaign and, if I have the privilege, every day in the United States Senate doing exactly that.”

Collins was uncontested in her primary election but has defeated challengers for decades. She largely refrained from attacking Platner as his scandals developed, only occasionally reacting to them in talks with reporters.

Collins’s messaging on unpopular Republican policies has helped detach her from an unfavorable administration, which independents, like those in Maine, dislike. The senator broke with her party in an April attempt to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to continue the war with Iran, of which most Americans disapprove.

“As I have said since these hostilities with Iran began, the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief is not without limits,” Collins said in a statement. “The Constitution gives Congress an essential role in decisions of war and peace.”

Her ability to hold off an outsider Democrat will help determine whether the GOP retains its majority through November. Democrats need to flip four seats to take back the chamber.