Platner’s anti-corporate crusade hits awkward snag as receipts tell another story
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner built a national reputation as an anti-corporate crusader while cashing checks written by lobbyists and executives representing those same corporations, campaign finance documents show.
Platner has made criticism of big tech, the pharmaceutical industry, large banks and defense contractors a cornerstone of his campaign to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins. Federal Election Commission and Lobbying Disclosure Act records reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Platner accepted more than $30,000 from lobbyists representing a range of interests and executives at major companies between August 2025 and March of this year.
The donations were made personally by lobbyists and executives, not by the corporations themselves.
"Our new ad speaks to one of the most urgent issues I hear on the campaign trail: our healthcare system is collapsing," Platner posted to X on March 24, referencing a campaign ad where he promised to take on the drug industry if elected to the Senate. "We should shut down Big Pharma, not our hospitals."
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The Senate hopeful also signed a pledge on March 25 promising to "to put patients over profits" by refusing "contributions over $200 from the executives, lobbyists, and PACs affiliated with the corporate health care industry, including private insurers, pharma corporations, and private hospitals who are organizing to take over our health care system."
Platner, however, months earlier, accepted a $1,000 donation from a lobbyist at Cornerstone Government Affairs who was working as a lobbyist for AbbVie, a major pharmaceutical company, lobbying records show. Shortly after making his post on X, Platner accepted another $1,000 from a lobbyist at Brownstein who represents the drugmakers Novartis and Moderna.
A source at Brownstein told Fox News Digital that Platner's campaign returned their lobbyist's donation, seemingly consistent with his pledge. Cornerstone Government Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Platner also criticized Collins for attending an event that was "literally funded by Big Pharma," only to then attend a coffee fundraising event put on by healthcare lobbyists.
"Graham Platner’s faux rage against the oligarchy falls apart the second you follow the money," National Republican Senatorial Committee national press secretary Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital. "He’s a shell of a candidate whose phony ‘working-class’ rebrand collapsed before it even got off the ground."
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Academic research has found evidence that contributions to a member of Congress increase access to their office, suggesting that lobbyist donations are motivated by a desire to shape policy.
Defense contractors have been another target of Platner’s anti-corporate ire on the campaign trail.
On his campaign page, Platner accuses defense contractors of perpetuating "massive waste in procurement" and engaging in war profiteering.
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"We need to take the funds currently paying for mansions in Virginia and Maryland for defense contractors, and reinvest them into closing the massive shipbuilding gap," his campaign website reads.
Campaign finance and lobbying records, however, show that Platner has accepted thousands of dollars from lobbyists representing major defense contractors such as RTX, Boeing and Anduril.
On banks, Platner has chided Collins for allegedly siding with the interests of big banks over her constituents, while accepting donations from lobbyists representing UBS, Visa and Citigroup and taking cash from a Bank of America executive.
Speaking about tech, Platner has pledged to break up large firms like Amazon and Google and stated that we will "come after" Jeff Bezos to make sure he pays more taxes. Despite these assurances, Platner has accepted contributions from lobbyists representing Blue Origin, a space technology company founded by Bezos, as well as some working for Amazon, Google and Salesforce.
The banking, tech, pharmaceutical and defense lobbyists who donated to Platner all work for third-party lobbying firms that contract with major corporations to represent their interests in Washington. Google, for example, has no control over who third-party lobbyists decide to make political donations to using their personal funds.
Large corporations, similarly, have no control over who their executives decide to send funds to.
In addition to taking cash from rank-and-file lobbyists, Platner has also accepted donations from executives and partners and multiple lobbying firms.
A partner at Forbes Tate, for example, gave Platner $1,000 at the end of March. Forbes Tate represents clients such as AMD, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Blackstone, Eli Lilly and Co., General Atomics and PhRMA — all of which belong to industries Platner has been critical of.
He also took $2,350 from senior leadership at Pioneer Public Affairs, a firm that represents the tech company LG and some energy interests, as well as thousands more from executives at the Sony Group Corporation.
While Collins receives considerable support from corporate lobbyists, PACs and executives, she hasn’t been a staunch critic of corporations like Platner. Current campaign finance records only cover up until March, making it likely that Platner has accepted even more money from lobbyists and executives than public documents reveal.
The Platner campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital.