Graham Platner says he's no John Fetterman. But he gets the concerns.

Graham Platner said he understands why some may be comparing him to Sen. John Fetterman, but he told NBC News he's different — and wants to earn voters' trust.

PORTLAND, Maine — Graham Platner understands the comparisons to Sen. John Fetterman.

In 2022, Fetterman was a gruff Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania whose national origin story began on the left. He overcame a controversy — and a lengthy absence from the campaign trail — to win in a key swing state, only to drift further and further away from the progressives who fueled his rise.

Fetterman has seen longtime staff and supporters abandon him as he makes overtures to the right and breaks with Democrats on the government shutdown — although he largely still votes with his party.

Platner is enduring his own controversies as a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine. And while he and Fetterman have notable surface-level similarities — both tattooed, shoot-from-the-hip white men who have a more working-class aesthetic, eschewing a shirt-and-tie ensemble for hoodies and crewnecks — they have also had many of the same political consultants working for them, including top operatives Rebecca Katz and Joe Calvello.

In a recent interview with NBC News, Platner smiled and chuckled when asked to respond to the Democrats who worry he could be another Fetterman.