MAINE — Gov. Janet Mills released a television advertisement Thursday criticizing Democratic primary rival Graham Platner for 2013 online posts that downplayed sexual assault. The ad campaign escalates competition between the two candidates for female voters in Maine's Senate race.

Mills and Platner, an oyster farmer, are campaigning to win support from female voters in the Democratic primary to challenge GOP Sen. Susan Collins in the general election. Both campaigns have launched TV ads narrated by women and held competing events featuring women supporters.

The new Mills campaign ad features Betsy E., an Army veteran who says she was raped. In the ad, Betsy E. says, "For all women who have ever been raped, the pain never goes away." She criticizes Platner's 2013 comments that suggested women could avoid rape if they didn't consume substances that impair judgment, using profanity in his original posts. In the ad, Betsy E. says, "The rapists are to blame, not women like me." In the ad, Betsy E. says, "Graham Platner is unacceptable."

Platner, a combat veteran, has disavowed his 2013 online posts and attributed them to post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Platner said, "Holy f---, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to? Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don't want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for f---s sake."

At a virtual news conference, Mills said, "It's important that Mainers hear Platner's own words and the absolutely abhorrent things that he has said." Mills added, "We're garnering more support, especially from women, day by day."

The first negative ad from Mills' campaign launched last week and featured women, including prominent Democratic leaders, reading Platner's 2013 remarks and describing them as disqualifying. Mills and her allies are highlighting Platner's past comments, characterizing them as offensive to women who might be persuaded to support Collins.

Platner's campaign launched a TV ad stating that the 2013 comments are "not who I am," and features a woman stating that he has apologized and changed. Platner also hosted an event with women supporters in response to attack ads against him. Platner's campaign has focused its digital ads primarily on women, with 80% of its Google ad spending this year targeting female-only voters, according to the platform's ad tracker.

In online Reddit posts, Platner also described himself as a communist and wrote that white, rural Americans were racist and stupid. In reference to the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Platner wrote that "all" police officers are "bastards." The Mills campaign has not reported any digital advertisements specifically aimed at women.

Women over age 65 tend to constitute a plurality of Maine primary voters. Susan Collins has won re-election in Maine in part due to support from female voters, winning female voters in Maine by a margin of 3 points in her 2020 re-election race.