Graham Plattner widely expected to win Maine Democratic Party Senate primaries June 9, launching a potentially high-stakes race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. As attention grows for the candidate, many are asking about those closest to him, his wife, Amy Gertner, and the family in which he grew up.
Who is Graham Plattner’s wife Amy Gertner?
Platner married Amy Gertner in the fall of 2023. The couple lives in Sullivan mainewhere they operate the Waukeag Neck Oyster Company, which Plattner took over in 2019 after retiring. newsweek.
Gertner previously served as an elementary and middle school art teacher. According to an interview with The New Yorker, the two met through friends and then matched on the dating app Bumble. Gertner has also been committed to her husband’s Activity Since its launch last August, Federal Election Commission records show 16 paychecks have been paid, totaling $29,042.14, Newsweek reported. Plattner told The New York Times in an interview in May that he and his wife earn a combined income of about $60,000 a year, partly from veterans benefits.
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Who are Graham Plattner’s parents?
Plattner grew up in Sullivan, Maine, just steps away from where he now lives. His parents, father Bronson Plattner and mother Leslie Harlow, were divorced and they separated when he was six. newsweek.
His 81-year-old father, Bronson Platner, is a local attorney who specializes in real estate and business transactions. His mother, Leslie Harlow, 72, has owned several local businesses and now owns and operates the Ironbound restaurant in Hancock. She was also a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and a former county party chair, and hosted political fundraisers at her country inn and event space, Newsweek reported, citing the New York Times.
His grandfather, Warren Plattner, was a famous architect.
Despite Plattner’s working-class image on the campaign trail, critics pointed to his privileged background. His father has donated more than $65,000 to federal Democratic candidates since 2011, including Sen. Ruben Gallego who donated $3,500 to his son weeks after he endorsed him, The New York Times reported. Bronson Plattner also paid for his son and daughter-in-law to travel to Norway for fertility treatments, a source told The Times.
In 1999, Plattner briefly attended Hotchkiss Elite School, where annual tuition is about $25,000 and currently starts at $68,700. He received financial aid but was eventually expelled, telling The Times he felt like he didn’t fit in among affluent students, Newsweek reported.
Plattner also disputed this assertion. “I’ve never been close to money and power,” he told voters. His mother also defended him. “We raise our children with strong values and beliefs,” Harlow said in a speech last year. According to Newsweek , “I know Graham has always been a kid, a young man, a man who paved his own path.”
