Graham Platner, a Democrat running against lame-duck Maine Governor Janet Mills in the primary to challenge incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, said Tuesday that a Republican super PAC called Pine Tree Results bought $2 million worth of attack ads against his campaign and in support of Collins.
According to Platner, the PAC is funded by 12 billionaires, including Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Palantir’s Alex Karp, major Trump supporters who appeared on a 2025 list of donors for the president’s then-$200 million ballroom project. (This week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is proposing legislation to use $400 million of taxpayers’ money to fund the project instead, replacing the original donor-funded plan.)
Platner said of the ad campaign against him: “It’s all out of state money. Not a single dollar coming from Maine. They’re getting scared. And they should be.”
What do the CEO of Palantir, the CEO of Blackstone, and ten other billionaires have in common?
First, they don’t live in Maine. Second, they’re funding a Republican super PAC, spending two million dollars to pollute our airwaves with attack ads. pic.twitter.com/87iSrUWqiv
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) April 27, 2026
[NOTE: Pine Tree Results is based in Alexandria, Virginia and the Treasurer of the PAC is Theodore V. Koch. In January, Bloomberg Government reported that the super-PAC “working to reelect Sen. Susan Collins began the 2026 election year with $10 million cash-on-hand after raising more than $5 million late last year from donors including billionaires Paul Singer and John Malone, according to a campaign-finance filing.”]
A Republican Super PAC called “Pine Tree Results”, funded by twelve billionaires, just bought $2 million worth of attack ads against our campaign. It’s all out of state money. Not a single dollar coming from Maine.
They’re getting scared. And they should be. https://t.co/bxdcrFqhs2
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) April 27, 2026
Last week, Governor Mills vetoed legislation passed by the state’s Democratic state legislative majority that would have paused construction of new data centers in Maine, drawing blowback from Mainers, including one who wrote in the comments that she “sold us out to Palantir and Blackstone,” both of which is invested directly or indirectly in the nationwide data center buildout.
[NOTE: Mills said she would have signed the ban if it didn’t include the $550 million data center project in the town of Jay, which is scheduled to break ground in July. The Town of Jay (population 4,620) has struggled economically since the 2023 closure of a pulp and paper mill, the site of the new data center which is being developed by Sentinel Data Centers of New York City.]
With a strong lead over Mills in the primary race, Platner is directing nearly all his attacks at the Republican Collins, characterizing the sitting senator as status quo Washington, and in need of removal.
Platner’s retort, below, to Sen. Tim Scott‘s (R-SC) support for Collins exemplifies the rhetoric that has elevated his popularity among working class Mainers, as Platner targets “you, Senator Scott, and your allies, and your president” and says “once we’ve replaced all of you, we’ll pass universal healthcare, end foreign wars, and wipe out your entire corrupt legacy.”
I agree. It starts with Maine. It starts with Susan Collins.
And then you, Senator Scott, and your allies, and your president. And once we’ve replaced all of you, we’ll pass universal healthcare, end foreign wars, and wipe out your entire corrupt legacy.
But it starts with… https://t.co/4TJVdUcyZ0
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) April 25, 2026