Graham Platner said his Maine U.S. Senate campaign played a “key role” in passing a rape kit bill. Is that correct?
In 2024, Maine ’s legislature passed a bill requiring the state to inventory untested rape kits and establish a rape kit tracking system. Gov. Janet Mills did not sign that or 34 other late-arriving bills, saying she feared a legal challenge since they were last minute.
In January 2026, Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, invited the author of a rape kit bill to speak at his town hall and encouraged the audience to call the governor. One month later, Mills said in a statement she included rape kit funding in her supplemental budget proposal, which became law in April. It’s not simple to parse whether Platner deserves credit for that. Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat who hopes to oust Republican U.S. Sen.
Susan Collins, has taken heat for comments he made about rape more than a decade ago. His campaign strategy emphasizes his present views, including his support for legislation to improve tracking of rape kits.
"Our campaign played a key role in passing Representative Valli Geiger's landmark rape kit bill in Maine," Platner said in andidn’t pass, but Gov. Janet Mills signed a budget in April that included rape kit tracking, which Geiger proposed in her bill. ) "Rape kits" is shorthand for sexual assault forensic evidence kits. Medical professionals collect evidence from sex assault victims’ bodies and clothing to help law enforcement investigate.
Past studies andGeiger narrated the Platner ad, which aired in April:"I wrote a bill to ensure rape kits are tracked to protect victims and identify perpetrators. Every year its passage was blocked. But then I told Graham Platner and the first thing he said was ‘Valli, how can I help get this bill passed? ’ He campaigned on it.
He spoke to hundreds of Mainers about it. He brought in an army of volunteers to call about it and the bill will soon become law.
" Platner, an oyster farmer, veteran and political newcomer, has faced criticism about comments he made about rape on Reddit in 2013. A PAC associated with Collins Trailing Platner in the polls, on April 30 Mills dropped out of the Senate race, making Platner the likely nominee. David Costello, who has held government jobs in Maine and Maryland, remains on the June 9 Democratic primary ballot, but lags far behind in polling and fundraising.
Platner’s ad has a point that past efforts had failed — Mills signed no such a bill in 2024, citing a procedural objection. But it’s hard to parse whether Platner played a"key role" in the passage; he did invite a lawmaker advocating for the legislation to speak at one of his town halls.that recommended investing state money in its state crime lab to analyze sexual assault kits to maintain a minimal backlog.
A kit’s evidence can validate a survivor's account, the study said, and may make some more willing to participate in the justice process. The evidence also helps identify offenders. The bill was among 35 that Mills said legislators sent to her after they adjourned. She didn’t sign them into law, in what’s called a pocket veto.
Millsthat even if she saw value in some of the bills, she feared a legal challenge since they were last minute. When asked in 2024 about not signing the rape kit bill, Mills said she was working with police to improve rape kit tracking.reported that Mills was referring to a limited pilot program passed by the Legislature the previous session that had yet to be implemented.
"I feel strongly about this bill, too," Mills said, referring to Geiger’s bill. "I feel strongly that we have to respect the rights of survivors of sexual assault, I always have taken that position. "Geiger told us in an April 30 interview she stood by those comments and didn’t think it would have been a sound strategy to blame the governor.
But she said she had thought that Mills, the state’sWe asked Platner’s campaign for information about what he did to campaign for the bill. A spokesperson pointed to one action: Platner held a"tax the rich" town hall Jan. 6 in Portland, Maine, where he gave the stage to Democratic lawmakers, including Geiger, to promote their bills. The campaign sent us video clips of the town hall.
"We are the only state in the nation that has not passed a rape reform kit bill," Geiger said at the event, as she recounted the bill’s 2024 demise. "Despite the fact that I know that the governor strongly supports women's rights, she vetoed that bill. ":"I can’t tell you how many women and men said ‘I am writing the governor.
I will call the governor" after listening at the town hall," Geiger said in an interview.she included in her supplemental budget proposal $267,000 for the Department of Public Safety to establish a tracking system for completed rape kits. She said it aligned with aThe night before Mills dropped out of the race, a spokesperson for her campaign sent us a statement by Rep.
Holly Stover, a Democrat and appropriations committee member, and a co-sponsor of the bill that Mills cited in her budget proposal. Stover credited Mills and legislators for the passage. The Mills campaign spokesperson said in the fall of 2025, the governor informed legislative leaders that she would include rape kit funding in the supplemental budget, but the spokesperson provided no evidence to back that up. Eight Investigates: Gov.
Mills rejects rape kit tracking bill, keeping Maine ranking last in the nation when it comes to reformsGov. Janet Mills campaign, Statement to PolitiFact, April 30, 2026“As a result of the 'Big Beautiful Bill' 15 million Americans have been thrown off the healthcare that they need.
" “83% of us favor requiring a photo ID to vote. In fact, most of the civilized world requires it but not us. ” “Moulton voted with Republicans to thank ICE for protecting our homeland. He thanked ICE as they were terrorizing our communities and killed citizens in broad daylight.
” The SAVE America Act “requires everyone to re-register to vote in person and your driver’s license, REAL ID, or military ID aren’t even good enough. ” "Right now we're focused on Minneapolis because that's where we have the highest concentration of people who have violated our immigration laws.
" Protesters against the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota are conducting “fake protests done by agitators and professional insurrectionists. …They're professional troublemakers. ” A letter sent to postal service employees about working during emergencies such as civil unrest is a sign that President Donald Trump will impose martial law. Imagen muestra que “950 inmigrantes derrumbaron el muro fronterizo entre México y Estados Unidos intentando ingresar a Estados Unidos” en abril 2026.
“As a result of the 'Big Beautiful Bill' 15 million Americans have been thrown off the healthcare that they need. "“Tras el atentado a Trump”, en la cena de corresponsales de la Casa Blanca el 25 de abril, “Irán lanza un mensaje fuerte: ‘no le crean nada, miente’”. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds voted"against three pay raises for military service members, including the largest pay raise for the military in 22 years.
""There's two ways of calculating percentage" decreases. “If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction. "
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