Gramerica: A Season-Long Journey into Graham Platner's 2026 Senate Race cover art

Gramerica: A Season-Long Journey into Graham Platner's 2026 Senate Race

Gramerica: A Season-Long Journey into Graham Platner's 2026 Senate Race

By: Pip Wood Adrian Cole AKA Two Broke Woke Blokes
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Summary

 Shitposting, F-bombs, and a now-infamous tattoo. Soaring rhetoric, stage diving, and packed town halls. It’s hard to overstate how oyster farmer and former Marine Graham Platner has disrupted Maine’s political status quo in his bid to unseat five-term Senate Titan Susan Collins. He has already toppled his Democratic primary rival, Governor Janet Mills, and weathered scandals that would have sunk most campaigns. Join the Two Broke Woke Blokes as they follow what’s become a one-on-one slugfest that is rewriting the political playbook and could decide the balance of power in the Senate.Pip Wood, Adrian Cole, AKA Two Broke Woke Blokes Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • To the Senate From the Sea

    To the Senate From the Sea
    May 13 2026

    Continuing our journey into Gramerica, the Two Broke Woke Blokes take a wide angle view and examine Graham Platner's unlikely emergence from the quiet backwaters of coastal Maine to the center of the national electoral system.

    They offer a quick update on the campaign, reflecting events up to early May, 2026, and then circle back and catch our listeners up on how the hell this happened, along the way touching on the Big Themes that GP's candidacy has thrust into the story--a not-exactly-working-class-background: spicy and often offensive social media posts, a Nazi tattoo, and notwithstanding all of it, a blizzard of support and a kind of electricity not usually (ever?) seen in the Pine Tree State.

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    30 mins
  • Episode One: Shuck the Oligarchy

    Episode One: Shuck the Oligarchy
    Apr 10 2026
    Since bursting onto the political scene last July with a viral campaign video, former Marine, Graham Platner has rattled the GOP and sent nervous shivers the Democratic Party. The veteran of Ramadi and Fallujah calls for the smashing of the oligarchy, retiring of the gerontocracy, and an end to “stupid foreign wars.” He’s gritty, he’s angry, and often says “fuck.” His message to Mainers: “We’re getting screwed, and it doesn’t have to be this way.”Whether hosting fireside chats, stage-diving at rock concerts, or shouting anti-war slogans outside Senator Collins’ office, Platner wins national media attention. He has sparred with the Democratic establishment in D.C. and won endorsements from the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. By late April, he had dispensed with his primary rival, Governor Janet Mills, despite explosive revelations about past Reddit posts and a recently covered-over Nazi Totenkopf tattoo from his days as a young marine.In stark contrast to Susan Collins, Platner is everywhere, making good on his pledge to visit every one of Maine’s towns by Election Day. To his supporters, he is the long-awaited antidote to a broken political system. To his critics he is "communist," "Nazi," "racist," "homophobe"—yet he keeps on rolling. Will he withstand the looming onslaught of GOP attacks? Is the Collins campaign sitting on more damaging revelations?Gramerica explores how Platner fought his way to the front of the pack and dives into the dizzying array of themes this race has unearthed.The Two Broke Woke Blokes are energized by the Platner campaign, but we aren't "fanboys." We don’t pretend to be political experts; we are simply grappling with the questions and contradictions of this race. Join us as we follow the final stretch of this election. If past is prologue, it’s going to be a wild ride. Sources cited in this episode:Clip 1: “That Roar That You’re Hearing” Speaker: Ken Casey Program: Dropkick Murphys Full Set LIVE | State Theatre Portland, ME | February 9, 2026 Source: @concertshub Link: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlEIL_R_As8⁠Clip 2: “Different Type of Politics”Speaker: Jon Lovett Program: Pod Save AmericaSource: YouTube ShortsLink: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WH7n1vBDss8⁠⁠ Clip 3: “Absolutely a Homophobe”Speaker: Yasmin NairProgram: Bad Faith PodcastSource: YouTubeLink: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw0rtUYUB_s⁠Clip 4: “Not a Pussy”Speaker: @stevozone4_Program: StevozoneSource: TikTokLink: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@stevozone4_/video/7545551698010328333?lang=en⁠Clip 5: “Upper Middle-Class Dude Games”Speaker: Lo SontagProgram: Auto AsphyxiationSource: YouTubeLink: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-kspRL6dkY&list=PLnb-qi-v7eV9YiYgFIE_MK7f_oYRre-25&index=18⁠Clip 6: “Written Off for Far Less”Speaker: @ifeeljaydid_Program: N/ASource: TikTokLink: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ifeeljaydid_/video/7564090132140182839?lang=en⁠Clip 7: “Protesting Bush and Signing up for War”Speaker: Briahna Joy GrayProgram: Bad Faith PodcastSource: YouTubeLink: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw0rtUYUB_s⁠Clip 8: “The Boldest Anti-Racist White People”Speaker: @watchfulcoyoteProgram: N/ASource: TikTokLink: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@watchfulcoyote/video/7570548524576820493?lang=en⁠Clip 9: “Following Orders from Empire”Speaker: @nj_socialistProgram: N/ASource: TikTokLink: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@nj_socialist/video/7565249204981992718?lang=en⁠Clip 10: “He is Exactly Who He Says He is”Speaker: @watchfulcoyoteProgram: N/ASource: TikTokLink: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@watchfulcoyote/video/7570548524576820493?lang=en⁠Clip 11: “Anti-Establishment Angst and Working-Class Power”Speaker: Graham PlatnerProgram: Campaign Launch VideoSource: YouTubeLink: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53bZ_95nDjk⁠Clip 12: “Response to Republicans”Speaker: Graham PlatnerProgram: grahamformaineSource: InstagramLink: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPXCGL8jrtQ/⁠
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    44 mins
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