Democrats’ Platner Nightmare Might Cost Them the Senate

Democrats’ forced marriage with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner could cost them far more than one swing seat – it might cost them any chance at winning back the Senate.

Over the past week, a flood of shocking revelations about Platner’s past online comments and marital infidelity have rocked the political world. Along with sending sexual text messages to multiple women while married to his current wife, Platner also mocked a Purple Heart recipient; called Army soldiers “fat, lazy trash”; referred to himself as a “communist”; said that rural Americans are stupid and racist; complained about a “Thai prostitute loophole” closing; and blamed women victims of sexual assault – and that’s just a start.

Platner now claims that those comments, most of which were made on Reddit, were written during a “dark time” in his life when he was suffering from PTSD following deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan between roughly 2005 and 2016. But Platner’s sexual texts with other women outside his marriage were far more recent – he just married his wife, Amy, in 2023.

He also allegedly still has an active profile on Kik, a popular messaging app used to coordinate sexual encounters. Before the profile was exposed publicly, it featured a shirtless picture of Platner with a towel wrapped around his waist. As Fox News reported, “Kik has been labeled a ‘predator’s paradise’ by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation over concerns about child exploitation and predatory behavior on the platform,” although there is no evidence that Platner used the platform to communicate with minors.

Platner was already under fire after it was revealed early in the race that he had a chest tattoo identified as a “Totenkopf” skull and crossbones – an emblem utilized by Nazi SS death squads. He has since claimed that he had no knowledge of the symbol’s Nazi ties and covered it up with another tattoo.

Democrats’ Platner headache was not something they expected heading into the midterm year. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took the unusual step of endorsing incumbent Democrat Governor Janet Mills, who was supposed to cruise to an easy primary victory. But with Platner, a first-time candidate and oyster farmer, taking a commanding lead in the polls, Mills suspended her campaign in April – although she will still appear on the June 9 primary ballot, as she has repeatedly reminded voters amid Platner’s deepening morass of scandals.

Platner has now put every other Democrat Senate candidate running this year in an awkward spot. While liberals claim to be the party that defends women, they are now defending a man who explicitly blamed female rape victims for their own assault. The party that has spent an entire decade baselessly calling Donald Trump a “Nazi” is now forced to defend a candidate who had a literal Nazi tattoo.

That is hardly an enviable position to be in with less than six months to go until Election Day, and refusal to condemn Platner could become an electoral anchor in the very races Democrats must win to flip the Senate.

Florida Democrat Senate candidate Alex Vindman found that out first-hand earlier this week. Vindman, who was the key witness in Democrats’ first failed impeachment effort against President Trump, is running to unseat Republican Ashley Moody in a special election for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s old seat.

In a video, Vindman, who identifies as a Jewish American, demurs when asked if Platner’s Nazi tattoo is disqualifying. “He has to answer those questions to the satisfaction of his electorate,” Vindman says, failing to condemn Platner, his tattoo, or any of his controversies. “Those are the fundamental issues that are put before folks before they vote.” The clip has now gone viral on social media and is sure to be a strategy deployed against other Democrat Senate hopefuls throughout the country.

But the bigger problem for Democrats may be that Platner’s repulsive and totally disqualifying comments and actions have forced them to reveal that they care more about power than anything else. They desperately need to win Maine to have any chance of flipping the Senate. That means supporting Platner no matter what. In doing so, however, they have exposed themselves as shameless hypocrites.

Take, for instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren has a long history of launching vicious and completely unfounded attacks against President Trump, even calling him a “serial abuser.” But now she is firmly standing behind her endorsement of Platner – a man who has excused sexual violence against women and stepped out on his marriage – even going so far as to say that he is showing “courage and determination.”

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was the first high-profile senator to endorse Platner. Like Warren, Sanders has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, calling the President “a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, and a religious bigot.” But he too has steadfastly stood by Platner, dismissing all his sexist and bigoted comments by saying, “Maybe as a nation we focus on issues more important than the Platner marriage.”

“Is he going to be an albatross to run with? Absolutely,” one Maine Democrat strategist told Politico. “He’s going to lose. All these polls showing him up against Susan Collins – people forget that the voters who decide this race make their decisions in the last two weeks.”

Unless Platner drops out of the race – something he has made clear that he has no intention of doing – it looks like Democrats are stuck with him as their nominee. As a result, they might be stuck in the minority for at least two more years as well.

Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.