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BAR HARBOR — Graham Platner struck a defiant tone Friday night before a theater full of energized supporters, folding new unflattering disclosures about his past into his story of personal redemption and his populist economic message.

The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate spoke before several hundred people at a get-out-the-vote rally in the 1932 Criterion Theatre in this tourist mecca four days before Maine’s primary election. The evening’s final speaker was U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who traveled to Maine to lend support to Platner and two other candidates at the rally — State Auditor Matt Dunlap in the 2nd District congressional race and Troy Jackson in the gubernatorial race.

The rally capped off a tumultuous week for Platner’s campaign, which confronted successive revelations about his sexual history, most recently in a New York Times report on Thursday suggesting he had previously mistreated girlfriends. Still, Platner’s campaign said Friday evening that in the 24 hours since publication of the Times piece, it has raised more than $200,000 from more than 5,000 donors who are from every Maine county and every state.

Khanna did not shy away from confronting the controversy, telling the audience that “no one should make excuses for his past relationships, some of which were toxic and volatile, and no one on our side should attack the women who came forward.”

“You know why? Because Democrats believe in respecting the equality and the dignity of women,” Khanna said as applause built through the theater. “And we always will.”

Since Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign about a month ago, Platner has appeared all but certain to win the Democratic nomination on Tuesday and face five-term incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November. The revelations of Platner’s extramarital sexting and alleged mistreatment of former girlfriends — on top of past controversies stemming from now-deleted inflammatory Reddit posts and a now-covered tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol — rattled Democrats from Capitol Hill to Maine.

Platner had responded to the latest round of reporting by expressing regret and denying the most severe claims of physical altercations with an ex-girlfriend along with her assertion that he knew for years about the Nazi associations to his chest tattoo.

He did not explicitly mention the newest allegations and reporting Friday night in Bar Harbor, his first large public event since they surfaced. But he referred to them along with the other controversies early on in a 25-minute speech, with nods to his mother and his wife, in front of a banner displaying the title of Friday’s rally: “Changing the Tides.”

“Since the beginning, Maine, you had my back,” Platner declared. “Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated and weaponized, you have my back.”

He added: “To all of you out there, Maine, I will always have your back.”

He railed against worsening economic conditions in his home state and increasing wealth inequality, condemning what he called “a system that will fight back with everything it has.”

He criticized Collins, who is seeking her sixth term this year, for failing to exert more influence as the chair of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee to slow down President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which she voted to advance before ultimately voting against it.

“Susan Collins hasn’t met a war she doesn’t like, and it’s no surprise because she’s married to a lobbyist who represents the defense industry,” Platner said, referring to Collins’ husband, Thomas Daffron. “You don’t see as many articles about that,” he added, drawing laughs for the veiled reference to the scrutiny of his own marriage.

Platner called attention to his wife, Amy Gertner, who factored into stories last weekend from the Times and The Wall Street Journal about her having flagged for Platner’s campaign last August sexual texts he had sent to other women after the couple married in 2023. She stood from her seat in the theater Friday and blowed kisses at the crowd, which gave her a standing ovation and chanted her first name.

Platner and Khanna both praised Gertner. They spoke after Dunlap and Jackson, who both face competitive Democratic primary fields for their races in Tuesday’s ranked-choice election.

Ken Elowe, 70, a Bristol resident and retired wildlife official, said before the rally that he attended it because he knew the Bar Harbor-born Dunlap and wanted to hear Platner speak. He said the recently surfaced controversies regarding Platner’s past, and the candidate’s efforts to mention them while redirecting attention to his progressive platform, only redoubled his support for him.

“Anybody who can endure having their private life exposed and remain accountable and also stick to what he feels is most important to move forward has got my strong support,” Elowe said.

Sitting up in the theater’s mezzanine was a seasonal worker in Bar Harbor who said she is a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and wanted to hear Platner speak for the first time given that Sanders has endorsed Platner. The worker, Tini, is from Hawaii and said she had not read much about the recent stories on Platner’s past, but she wasn’t focused on that anyways.

“My first impression is (he) is great,” she said.

Platner skeptics were on hand Friday night as well. Mike Turcotte, a Burnham resident who has previously run as an independent for the Legislature, was in the theater’s lobby and pointed his finger in the direction of the stage as Dunlap was speaking. Dunlap’s “integrity is through the roof,” Turcotte said, and he admitted he wishes Dunlap were in Platner’s place in the Senate race.

“(Platner) turned himself around from the abyss,” Turcotte said. “But a U.S. senator is our face to a national audience.”

Platner has consistently led polls of the Democratic primary since launching his campaign last summer, with Mills suspending her campaign in late April after she struggled to match his momentum, though Mills reminded voters her name will still appear on Tuesday’s ballot.

Brunswick Democrat David Costello has struggled to gain traction in the Senate race and Andrea LaFlamme, an adjunct college professor and union organizer, is running as a write-in candidate.

Platner will wrap up this weekend with a Sunday night town hall in Portland.