Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner was reportedly aware of the Nazi-affiliation of his skull and crossbones chest tattoo, despite recent claims that he had never faced negative accusations regarding it until he ran for office, according to Jewish Insider.
“He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” an acquaintance recalls Platner telling him at Tune Inn, a Capitol Hill Bar where Platner worked, in 2012.
“He said it in a cutesy little way,” the individual said. Platner said at the time that he was aware of what the symbol meant when he got the tattoo, though he has denied knowing the meaning at other times, Jewish Insider reported. Platner has since gotten a new tattoo to cover the symbol, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The report came after Platner attempted to explain the tattoo on “Pod Save America” on Monday.Graham Platner shows off cover-up tattoo of Nazi symbol in interview with local Maine news outlet: https://t.co/MMPvw57zzz pic.twitter.com/JaUYLjuM41
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“I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said on the podcast. “Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general. I would say, lifelong opponent.”
Platner, who has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), further added that he was “very inebriated” on leave in Croatia while on a deployment for the Marines in 2007, and “we chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall” while at the tattoo shop.
“We got those and then we all moved on with our lives,” he said.
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“At no point in this entire experience of my life not once did anybody say ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’ It never came up, until we got wind that in the opposition research somebody was shopping the idea that I was secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo. And I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I have not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years,” Platner continued.
Platner has been under fire since a number of his Reddit posts were revealed, including one where he referred to cops as “bastards” and described himself as a “communist.”
Axios reported that in a 2020 Reddit post Platner said he had the term “antifa super soldier” on “armor” he owned.
His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who quit just days ago, called him out in a Facebook post in light of the tattoo scandal.
“Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest. He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff. Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means,” McDonald wrote, The Maine Wire reported.
Platner is currently facing Democrat Governor Janet Mills in a primary, the winner of which will face incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, in a closely watched 2026 race.
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