06/01/2026
Valli Geiger
So having 48 hours to think about the new Graham Platner story, here are my thoughts…..
If I have this right, a member of his campaign staff and also a friend, Genevieve McDonald found out that Graham’s Reddit posts were going to come out. When the staff asked if there was anything else, Amy, Graham’s wife, told Genevieve, in confidence, as woman she saw as a friend, about the sexting, early in their marriage.
Genevieve decided this was too messy a campaign for her to be part of so she left. But she didn’t just leave as a professional would, she left trashing the candidate to the press, to friends, on Facebook and other social media. The Reddit posts did come out, but the sexting did not. She decided that she needed to make sure it did and called the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch paper with a right wing editorial slant. When the WSJ called her to say they were running the story, she apparently didn’t like the way it was written? The way she was portrayed? So she went to The NY Times, sharing Amy’s private text messages to her, with the paper.
Am I disappointed to learn this about Graham. Yes, it makes me sad. But, as a former VA nurse, I know all the ways returning veterans self medicate, to deal with their trauma. I knew when I supported him that he was a wounded warrior. But I respected and continue to respect that he is doing the work of healing. He has been in therapy for years, he and Amy are in marriage counseling. They feel their marriage is stronger than ever. In the end, their marriage it is not my or anyone else’s business.
What is my business, is that I have been waiting for decades for an authentic voice to appear. Graham is a generational talent, with a deep commitment to FDR economic populism. Every time he speaks at a town hall, on a radio show, in an interview he is giving us a history lesson, reminding us that the elite have never handed a right or economic justice to the rest of us without being forced to do so. He is leading a movement I want to be part of. He inspires people of all ages and walks of life to join him in creating a better future for all of us.
I am not looking for a fairytale hero. I am a grown up. People are flawed and people are messy. Graham, being a man who has grown up with social media, has his messiness on full display. We can choose him, knowing his struggles, knowing he is in and has been in therapy for years, doing what Carl Jung calls shadow work. Or we can choose someone whose messiness we don’t know about, who is not and has not done their shadow work. I will choose Graham, the candidate who will fight for FDR economic policies, who has named the enemy and is a warrior willing to fight the Oligarchs and invites us to join him. There is no mythical perfect candidate out there.
As for Genevieve, I disagree with her choices. What kind of person sets out to sabotage a candidate she worked for? To betray a friend’s confidences? To sabotage herself and her own career? Not surprisingly, she has been fired from the Jordan Wood campaign. Who would hire such a destroyer of lives? How could you have an any trust in such a person?
In the end, each of us, sitting before our empty voting ballot must choose. I know which candidates will support labor and which will not and never have. I know who will support Tribal Sovereignty and who has not and will not. I know who will support taxing the 1% and who has not and will not. I am part of a movement to save democracy, return us to a fair society with healthcare and a living wage. I will vote for candidates who are part of and leading that movement. If you want structural change, I hope you will too.
Thank you for reading this post and adding your own thoughtful comments. I look forward to the conversation.
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