A Marine Veteran and Oysterman on Work and Maine

Co-hosts Dr. Lisa Belisle and Dr. Jeff Barkin welcome Graham Platner, a Marine veteran, Army veteran, and oyster farmer from Sullivan, Maine, who is a candidate for the United States Senate. Platner traces an arc that runs from coastal Maine to local civic life, including roles as harbor master and planning board chair, and explains how community organizing led him to seek federal office. He frames his motivation around the conviction that working people in Maine, across the political divide, deserve a politics centered on wages, health care, taxes, and the cost of daily life.

The conversation turns to his military background, which he references with respect rather than detail, and to the lessons he carries from years of service overseas. He speaks about caution in committing troops abroad and about directing public resources toward needs at home. The hosts then explore affordability in Maine, where Platner connects rising housing costs, scarce childcare, stagnant wages, and the state's aging housing stock to broader questions of opportunity for younger families.

Platner outlines ideas on housing, rural health care, and Maine's working waterfront, including aquaculture, fishing, farming, and forest products. He describes a leadership philosophy drawn from the infantry, the servant leader who places representation and accessibility above command, citing town halls held across the state. He closes on resilience, public trust, and his hope that periods of difficulty can give way to lasting structural change.