Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top strategist is reportedly facing accusations of trying to strong-arm a former campaign aide into covering up a damaging sexting scandal tied to Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner, according to the New York Post.
Morris Katz, a 27-year-old political operative credited with helping Mamdani become mayor, allegedly pressured former Platner campaign staffer Genevieve McDonald to publicly deny reports about the Maine candidate’s behavior. According to messages obtained by Bangor Daily News, Katz warned that if the story moved forward unchanged, the campaign would go on the record accusing McDonald of spreading false claims and betraying Platner and his wife.
“Just want to be clear on where we are right now,” Katz wrote via an intermediary. “If the story goes in its current iteration, we’ll communicate directly on the record, and by name, that Genevieve violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign.”
Katz, who runs the consulting firm Fight Agency, is currently working for Platner, the de facto Democratic nominee in Maine’s Senate race. The message was reportedly relayed through an adviser connected to congressional candidate Jordan Wood.
The pressure campaign came as Platner’s team braced for a Wall Street Journal report detailing allegations that he had exchanged explicit messages with multiple women after marrying his wife in 2023. Katz allegedly demanded that McDonald contact the Journal to deny the story, and record herself doing so as proof.
Instead, McDonald refused and later spoke on the record to The New York Times, which confirmed key details after the Journal’s report surfaced. The reporting indicated Platner may have sexted up to a dozen women, though his campaign has insisted the number was closer to six.
McDonald, who had previously worked on Wood’s campaign and was among several staffers who left Platner’s operation last fall, said she first learned of the behavior through Platner’s wife during internal opposition research. The campaign had been preparing for potential attacks when the allegations surfaced internally.
As the story broke, Katz lashed out publicly, blasting McDonald and others he accused of exploiting private matters. “It’s no one’s f—ing business what happened in Graham & Amy’s marriage before he was ever a candidate for office,” he wrote on social media, condemning what he described as “opportunistic operatives” violating trust.
Platner himself kept a low profile during a Sunday campaign event, avoiding questions from reporters. His campaign’s most visible response came from his wife, who released a five-minute video criticizing the media and the handling of the story, though she stopped short of naming McDonald directly.
According to The Post, the sexting controversy is only the latest in a string of issues that have dogged the 41-year-old Marine veteran’s campaign. Past revelations include online posts in which he downplayed sexual assault, defended U.S. soldiers who desecrated Taliban corpses, and made crude remarks about sexual topics. He has also drawn backlash for comments describing war as “the most enjoyable experience” and for statements suggesting white Americans are inherently racist and unintelligent.
The seemingly most controversial is a tattoo Platner once had resembling a Totenkopf, or “death’s head,” symbol associated with the Nazi SS. Platner has said he got the tattoo while drunk in Croatia in 2007 and was unaware of its meaning at the time. He later covered it with what he described as a Celtic knot design.
Despite the mounting controversies, Platner currently holds a 7.8-point lead over incumbent Senator Susan Collins in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Collins, however, has a track record of outperforming polling expectations, including during her 2020 reelection.