What do a plastic surgeon with links to Al Qaeda, an oyster fisherman with a Nazi tattoo, a former bandmate of a child sex offender, and a Lutheran minister who took part in a satanic wedding have in common? They’re all Democrat candidates for Congress in this November’s midterm elections.
Undoubtedly the most notorious Democrat this cycle is Graham Platner, the first-time candidate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race who defeated establishment favorite Janet Mills and is set to take on incumbent Republican Susan Collins this November. Platner first made headlines after it was revealed that he had a chest tattoo of a “Totenkopf” skull and crossbones – an emblem utilized by Nazi SS death squads. Shockingly, that scandal is mild compared to what has transpired since.
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; blamed women victims of sexual assault; and until very recently allegedly had an active profile on Kik (a popular messaging app used to coordinate sexual encounters) featuring a shirtless picture of himself.
Then, just last week, several of Platner’s former girlfriends came forward with disturbing details alleging that Platner “hated women” and would often become aggressive and violent. One of the women confirmed that Platner did indeed know that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol – contrary to what his campaign has claimed. Another woman claimed that Platner repeatedly stated that if anyone ever broke into his home, he would “rape them.”
In a sign of just how morally bankrupt Democrats have become, Platner’s supporters – including leading progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have long claimed to be champions for women’s rights and safety – have continued to stand by him.
One Democrat who secretly may be thankful for Platner’s woes is Adam Hamawy, who recently won a Democrat primary in a deep blue U.S. House district in New Jersey – meaning that he will almost certainly be in Congress come January 2027.
Hamawy, who was born in Egypt, has the endorsement of “the Squad” and is vehemently anti-Israel, is a plastic surgeon and a retired U.S. Army doctor. But his most notable association is with Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh” – who was convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured over a thousand others.
In 1995, when Hamawy was 26, he appeared as a defense witness at the Sheikh’s terrorism trial. Hamawy testified that he frequently visited Abdel-Rahman at his home and accompanied him on at least one long drive. Hamawy also admitted that Abdel-Rahman spoke openly about jihad and that destroying “the enemies of Islam” was a regular theme of the Sheikh’s sermons.
But that’s not all. As The Free Press reports:
Beyond the trial testimony, Hamawy has also faced questions about other associations. He volunteered in the 1990s with a medical organization in Bosnia that was later revealed by the 9/11 Commission to have ties to al-Qaeda. And in 2024, he spent a month volunteering in what he insisted was a “completely benign civilian hospital with no tunnels underneath it” before Israeli forces subsequently identified the facility as concealing a tunnel leading to Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar.
At least one Jewish Democrat – Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz – has expressed “concern” about Hamawy’s past, but the broader Democrat establishment continues to support him. Retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, whose seat Hamawy is expected to win, cited a need to “push back on any unnecessary negativity” in the race. Apparently, being a literal terrorist sympathizer is no longer disqualifying in the modern Democrat Party. To the contrary, it earns you the endorsement of some of the party’s most high-profile leaders and helps you win contested primaries.
Hamawy isn’t the only Democrat running this cycle who has displayed alarming sympathy for radical Islam and has excused terrorist acts. Pennsylvania state rep. Chris Rabb, the Democrat nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, shared a post blaming a mass shooting at a Hanukkah festival in Australia that left 16 dead on “Zionists.” In Michigan, the leading Democrat candidate for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, Abdul El-Sayed, is on video stressing the importance of having empathy for terrorists and expressing sadness at the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Then there’s Bobby Pulido, a South Texas Democrat congressional candidate who performed with a bandmate who was convicted of indecent contact with an eight-year-old girl. Pulido claims that he had no knowledge that the bandmate was a child sex offender, but he continued to play with him after his 2014 conviction.
Meanwhile, up in Iowa, Democrat House candidate Sarah Trone Garriott is running to take on GOP Rep. Zach Nunn in a toss-up district. As Fox News reported, Trone, who is a state senator and Lutheran minister, “participated in the wedding of a satanist couple in 2006 while serving as an intern pastor in a West Virginia parish.”
Taken together, these candidates are not simply embarrassing outliers. They are a flashing warning light about the moral rot at the heart of the modern Democrat Party. A party that claims to stand against extremism now excuses, enables, and even elevates the most shockingly radical and extreme candidates to ever get this close to positions of power. Voters should keep this in mind as they cast their ballots this fall.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
Again, it will up to the voters as they cast their ballots in the upcoming midterm elections as to which direction this nation will take. Already it is known that the “blue” states will stuff their ballot boxes and cheat as they have very little integrity with all of their corruption. The average citizen had better wakeup and face reality.