Maine Republicans just got a huge boost in their efforts to claim competitive Senate and House seats as Democrats duke it out in a messy primary that has become a national flash point.
State Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican, announced this week that she was launching a trio of groups — Lead Maine, Lead Maine Action, and the Lead Maine Committee — with the hopes of boosting turnout for her party in and further conservative policies.
“Maine needs a long-term, durable campaign infrastructure that grows our conservative grassroots movement and seats up Republicans up for success in 2026 and beyond,” Libby said in a statement.
Lead Maine will be a nonprofit and the action group is a state-level political action committee, while the committee will be a federal-level Super PAC, according to a press release.
Libby became a national figure over her critique of the state’s policies regarding transgender athletes, which at one point cost her the ability to even vote in the Maine House, The Daily Wire reported in June. She will not be running for re-election after three terms in the legislature, her press release noted.
“Lead Maine and its affiliated organizations are committed to building exactly that by educating and mobilizing citizens to drive meaningful societal and electoral change at both the state and national levels.”
Libby&#8217;s groups could help Republicans gain an advantage in a closely-watched cycle dominated by coverage of populist oyster farmer Graham Platner, who has faced numerous scandals for deleted Reddit posts and a Nazi tattoo. Platner is facing Governor Janet Mills in a primary that has voters split on questions of age and ideology, dividing the Democratic Party as a whole. Platner, a populist, is more than three decades younger than the more establishment Mills, who is 77.
Whoever wins will take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race the Cook Political Report calls a “toss-up,&#8221; one of the most competitive races of the coming midterm cycle. Democratic primary polls have yielded mixed results despite Platner’s scandals, and he shows no signs of dropping out despite high staff turnover.
“We can defeat Susan Collins and send a message to everyone that a new dawn has come for American politics. One that is strong, one that is principled, one that is hopeful, and most importantly, one that fights and wins,” Platner recently posted to X.
The Lead Maine Committee, a partnership with the Sentinel Action Fund, will put $4 million into Collins’ race. Grassroots movements and organizations are becoming more commonplace on the right, including with Scott Presler’s voter registration efforts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in addition to groups like Turning Point Action.
“This partnership and investment come ahead of a pivotal midterm election cycle. Maine’s Senate seat will play a critical role in securing and expanding the Republican Senate majority and protecting it is an essential step toward achieving a 60-seat majority,” Sentinel Action Fund President Jessica Anderson said in a statement.
In Maine’s Second Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Jared Golden announced that he is retiring, leaving the seat up for grabs despite now being labeled as “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report due to President Donald Trump’s victory in the district last year.
Democrat Jordan Wood exited the Senate race in order to run for the seat instead, and former Republican Gov. Paul LePage is running for the Republican nomination. Besides Collins, there are no other Republicans in the New England Congressional delegation.

Graham Platner Maine

How Maine’s Messy Democratic Primary Has Republicans Circling The Wagons

graham platner

janet mills

Maine

Senate

Susan Collins

“Socialism is not a dirty word anymore!” former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) yelled the night of November 4.
Bowman joined noted leftists Mehdi Hasan and Hasan Piker in an election night stream from Zohran Mamdani’s victory party. Mamdani, a 34-year-old socialist, had just won election as mayor of the most populous city in the United States.
The Democratic Party’s left flank is increasingly boxing out more moderate members to follow the lead of progressives, as seen in the government shutdown or in helping progressives and self-described socialists secure influential positions, one GOP political strategist told The Daily Wire.
“Progressives are fired up and the establishment Dems are trying to do as much as they can to capture it. I mean, a cynical person might say that the government shut down so Abigail Spanberger could win Virginia, right?” the strategist said. “I think that the only reason why the establishment Dems … picked such a difficult battle for them to win policy-wise in the shutdown is to make sure that their progressive comrades are not able to criticize them as much, and that means that the progressives are the tail that is wagging the dog right now.”
The progressive dominance is starkly evident in Maine. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden is known for regularly breaking with his party, sometimes on key votes. He was the only Democrat to vote with House Republicans to pass a short-term continuing resolution to head off the government shutdown that stretched a record 40 days.
Golden announced on November 5, the day after Mamdani’s victory, that he would forgo a run at re-election in 2026.
“I’m confident that were I to run again, I would win,” said Golden in a <a href="https://x.com/golden4congress/status/1986163261696278844">statement</a>. “Now, I look forward to my next chapter: raising my young daughters with Izzy and spending more time with our family and friends.”
The now-outgoing congressman abandoned his re-election campaign as he was facing significant pressure from his left from Democrat Matt Dunlap, Maine’s former secretary of state. When Dunlap announced his primary challenge to Golden last month, Dunlap’s first move was to <a href="https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2025-10-06/former-maine-secretary-of-state-matt-dunlap-launches-primary-challenge-against-jared-golden">characterize</a> Golden as too soft on President Donald Trump.
Dunlap appears to have resonated with voters in Maine’s second district. In a University of New Hampshire <a href="https://scholars.unh.edu/survey_center_polls/897/">poll</a> released last month, Dunlap was leading the incumbent, Golden.
That same poll also showed another progressive Democrat in Maine, Graham Platner, leading the field for the chance to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Maine Governor Janet Mills, known in the state as a more moderate Democrat despite her combative streak with Trump, <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/latest-polls/senate">trails</a> far behind Platner.
Platner is an Iraq War veteran, an oyster farmer, and the harbormaster of the small town of Sullivan. He has a history of <a href="https://mainemorningstar.com/2025/11/07/washington-need-not-apply-how-mainers-are-evaluating-controversy-laden-graham-platner/">working</a> with the climate alarmist Acadia Center, and he has secured endorsements from high-profile progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Last month, he was revealed to have a tattoo of a Nazi symbol, a skull-and-crossbones known as a Totenkopf, on his chest. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMnc4ddc7j4">clarified</a> he is “not a secret Nazi” and claimed that he had not known where the symbol originated until the scandal blew up. Some doubt about Platner’s story is warranted, though, since a <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/10/graham-platner-ss-tattoo-maine-senate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that the candidate had been referring to his tattoo as a Totenkopf as early as 2012.
Platner’s online history has come up in the campaign, as well. In 2020 and 2021, Platner was in internet posts claiming to be a “communist” while using racist language and gay slurs. While he has called the posts “indefensible,” he has also dismissed them as unserious and jokes.
Platner’s campaign has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/maines-graham-platner-thinks-voters-will-overlook-his-past-to-support-a-new-type-of-candidate">imploded</a> in recent weeks with multiple high-level departures, including his treasurer and finance director. Platner’s former campaign manager left after four days, excusing the early departure by saying his wife is pregnant. Separately, Platner’s campaign has required staff members to sign nondisclosure agreements, which the candidate has said is necessary in a high-stakes election.
Despite the upheaval, Platner’s political allies, including Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, have stood by the embattled Platner, showing just how durable support can be among the progressives’ favored candidates.
“One reason for that is it&#8217;s very clear that the base is furious, riled up, ready to support candidates that they wouldn&#8217;t have in the past,” whether for personal or policy reasons, said the GOP strategist, who has worked in Maine politics for more than a decade.
Progressives were reassured recently that voters may not punish them for standing by Platner. In Virginia, Democrats’ pick for state attorney general, Jay Jones, won the election to the office despite past text messages he sent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-them-virginia-dem-sent-shocking-texts-about-killing-gop-leader-pissing-on-graves">supporting</a> violence against his political opponents and their families.
Jones’ victory in Virginia is “a sad reflection of a discomfiting willingness among voters to prioritize partisanship over human decency,” as The Washington Post editorial board <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/03/virginia-election-governor-spanberger-sears-jay-jones/">wrote</a> ahead of the November 4 election.

Graham Platner

‘The Tail Wagging The Dog’: Progressives Dominate Democratic Politics In Maine And Beyond

Democratic Party

Zohran Mamdani

Embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner will lose the state’s Democratic primary to Governor Janet Mills, a new poll found.
EMILY’s List, which is supporting Mills in the primary, <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019a-7501-dfdd-af9b-75912aca0000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commissioned a poll</a> from Impact Research that found Mills would lose to incumbent Senator Susan Collins (R) with just 42% of the vote. But that’s only when respondents were given “balanced information” about the candidates.
When “additional information” was given about the Platner — such as quotes from deleted social media posts where he called himself a communist, and his Nazi symbol tattoo — Collins’ lead climbs to 57%.
“The statements include quotes from Platner’s posts, including his history of stoking political violence, use of homophobic slurs, and offensive views towards law enforcement and sexual assault victims,” the memo stated.
The poll was taken among 700 likely voters from October 22 to 27, with a 3.7% margin of error.
The Cook Political Report currently ranks the race as a “toss-up.” The Republican won re-election in 2020 with 50.98%, compared to 42.39% for the Democrat, Sara Gideon.
Platner has remained in the race despite the wave of negative headlines and most recently spoke out against the Democrats who backed the deal to reopen the federal government, even calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to “step down.”
“We get nothing. No healthcare. No subsidies,” Platner posted to X on Tuesday. “This is not a ‘deal.’ It&#8217;s a surrender.”
The vote to reopen the government by Collins and other Senate Republicans, in addition to some Democrats, was the hot topic on the campaign trail in recent days.
“This short-term continuing resolution would reopen government immediately, provide back pay to all federal workers, and fund important federal programs on which many Americans rely,” Collins, who is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Mills said Collins “voted against extending ACA subsidies,” as an amendment to continue the Obamacare subsidies for another year was shot down by Senate Republicans.
“This vote is a betrayal of Maine people, and it will send health care costs through the roof. While I have fought to expand health care and to make it more affordable, Senator Collins and Republicans in Washington are doing the opposite,” the governor posted.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Platner, Collins, and Mills campaigns, which were not immediately available for comment. Democrat Jordan Wood dropped out of the Maine Democratic primary on Wednesday, instead opting to run for Maine’s Second Congressional District, which is now open due to Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-ME) retirement announcement. The seat is considered competitive, but is labeled by the Cook Political Report as “Likely Republican.”
“If Chuck Schumer’s mountain of opposition research against Graham Platner wasn’t enough to scare him out of this race, it’s doubtful a poll from a group that has endorsed Janet Mills will do much,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell told The Daily Wire in a statement.

Maine Voters Embrace Susan Collins The More They Learn About Graham Platner: Poll

Congress

Polls

The 2026 midterm elections have an unlikely focal point: Maine.
The state’s Democratic primary has been marred with drama since self-styled populist Graham Platner was revealed to have made social media posts bashing cops and labeling himself a “communist.” Platner, who is battling Governor Janet Mills for the opportunity to face incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, has been bleeding staff since it came to light that he had a Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest.
Then Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) announced earlier this week that he would not be seeking re-election to Maine’s Second Congressional District. The Cook Political Report promptly moved the race from “toss-up” to “Likely Republican.”
“After much deliberation, I’ve decided not to seek reelection in 2026,” the Democrat posted to X on Wednesday. “I’m confident that were I to run again, I would win. But recent events have made me reconsider whether the good I can do in Congress still outweighs the cost to my family.”
The race, along with a few others, might be one of the few chances for Republicans to beef up their congressional representation in New England, as Collins is the only Republican representing the region in Washington.
In 2024, President Donald Trump won the district with 54%, but Golden has held on to the seat since he first won in 2018, a Democratic flip. The district covers northern Maine and is significantly more red compared with the deep blue First Congressional District. Last year, Golden defeated Republican Austin Theriault by roughly 2,700 votes.
“Serial flip-flopper Jared Golden’s exit from Congress says it all: He’s turned his back on Mainers for years and now his chickens are coming home to roost,” National Republican Campaign Committee Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a statement earlier this week when he called it quits. “He, nor any other Democrat, has a path to victory in ME-02 and Republicans will flip this seat red in 2026.”
Maine’s former Republican Governor Paul LePage, who served from 2011-2019, is running for Golden’s seat, posting to X on Thursday a meme saying “Shot” with a poll for LePage beating Golden, and then “chaser” as a headline showing that the Democrat would not run for re-election.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also commented on Golden’s retirement, suggesting that Tuesday night’s election results gave promising signs for Democrats.
“Last night’s election results make clear that voters are ready to elect a Democratic majority that keeps its promise to lower costs and fight for everyday people. Democrats will do everything necessary to keep this seat blue so that Mainers continue to have a voice fighting for them in Congress — and we are confident we will be successful,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement on Wednesday.
There’s fairly limited wiggle room in New England for Republicans to succeed, despite currently holding the governorship in New Hampshire and Vermont.
If a Republican wins the Maine seat, they would be the only one in the House chamber for the region, unless they also flip the seat left open by Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), who’s running for Senate, and Rep. Maggie Goodlander’s seat. Cook Political Report ranks both New Hampshire seats as “Likely Democrat,” along with Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District.
As for New Hampshire’s Senate race, a tough battle is underway for the open seat, as former Republican Sen. John Sununu is in a primary with former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Whoever wins the primary will presumably face off against Pappas. <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/senate-race-ratings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cook Political Report</a> ranks the New Hampshire race to succeed Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen as “Lean Democrat” and the Maine race as a “toss-up.”

Representative Jared Golden

New England Could Face A Political Shakeup in 2026. Here’s Why.

new england

Voters in Maine elected a woman for city councilor who was previously found guilty and served time for manslaughter.
Angela Walker, who was successfully elected in Bangor, Maine, on Tuesday, is making headlines after the surprising election results. Walker was convicted in 2003 in connection with the killing of Canadian tourist Derek Rogers, who had allegedly called her a racist name.
Walker and her brother, Benjamin Humphrey, pled guilty to the crime.
Rogers was a musician who had been visiting Old Orchard for 20 years prior. His body was discovered by a fisherman on the boardwalk close to the cottage he rented in Ocean Park, per <a href="https://www.themainewire.com/2025/11/killer-of-canadian-tourist-in-old-orchard-beach-among-three-new-city-councilors-in-bangor/">The Maine Wire</a>. Law enforcement found his body badly beaten and with sand forced down his throat.
Walker spoke with the Bangor Daily News about her criminal past prior to the election, which included nine candidates vying for three spots.
“I want people to see that it’s possible that we can change,” Walker said. “I was lost for so many years. I think people really need to see the other side of that.” She is also in recovery from a prior addiction.
“One of the big reasons that I want to run is because I feel like, with my lived experience and the work that I’ve done in a few different agencies in the area, that I can bring concerns of community members to City Council and hope for some change and be the voice for people that can’t speak up or don’t speak up,” she added.
Walker is not affiliated with a political party. She is focused on working with the homeless and people struggling with addiction, she said, and wants to “really be on foot with our friends in the homeless community.”
Of the three councilors elected, Walker received the fewest votes, but her election was still shocking to many.
“People in Maine have turned into a Steven King horror story,” one reaction <a href="https://x.com/cjt4837/status/1986194934509281547">said</a>.
“Maine deserves better,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/lmiller3745/status/1986165752349724909">agreed</a>.
“This is absolute insanity,” <a href="https://x.com/MiaRaeCameron/status/1986121825940611543">echoed</a> a third.

voting booth

Maine City Councilor Elected Despite Killing Canadian Tourist Who Allegedly Said Racial Slur

Crime

Elections

Politics

<div>Embattled Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s treasurer has resigned just days after his national finance director called it quits, according to the Judge Street Journal.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The <a href="https://judgestreetjournal.substack.com/p/exclusive-graham-platners-treasurer?utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;triedRedirect=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlet</a> reported that Victoria Perrone left her role as treasurer on Tuesday, and Ben Martello is the individual currently listed in the position on Federal Election Commission records.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Platner’s campaign has faced numerous controversies resulting from deleted Reddit posts and a Nazi-era tattoo, and in the days since those controversies spread across social media, both a campaign manager and a political director have also abruptly exited the campaign.</div>
<div></div>
<div>His former national finance director, Ronald Holmes III, posted to LinkedIn on Friday that he was resigning.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign,” Holmes posted.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“I wish the campaign and the voters in Maine well as they continue forward with selecting a nominee who they believe is best suited to meet the moment and flip this critical must win seat for us to take back the U.S. Senate in 2026,” he continued.</div>
<div></div>
<div><a href="https://x.com/hollyotterbein/status/1984284658612494537">Axios</a> reported the Platner campaign said that Holmes quit because his role had more to do with getting large donors on board to the campaign, but “the reality is our campaign’s fundraising success has come largely from small dollar donors. Nearly 90% of what we’ve raised has come from small dollar donations and online donors, which is run by our digital fundraising director.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.</div>
<div></div>
<div><a href="https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/platner-campaign-manager-steps-down-after-joining-campaign-last-week-social-media-maine-democrats-senate-race-republicans-susan-collins-janet-mills" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WGME News</a> reported that Kevin Brown took a job as the Democrat’s campaign manager, and claimed that his exit had to do with finding out that his wife is pregnant — but he left the job just days after beginning the new gig.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Platner&#8217;s former political director Genevieve McDonald spoke out about quitting after his now-covered Totenkopf tattoo went viral.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest,” McDonald posted to Facebook. “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.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>The Democrat is in a primary race against Gov. Janet Mills, and whoever wins the primary will face off against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in 2026.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Our movement is powered by the people of Maine,” Platner posted to X on Saturday. “The people of Maine will not be propagandized. And they will not be bought.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</div>
<div></div>

Graham Platner’s Treasurer Switch Marks Yet Another Exit From Campaign

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s national finance director has now publicly called it quits, marking yet another major exit from the scandal-ridden primary campaign. 
Ronald Holmes III announced on LinkedIn on Friday that he “resigned from that role effective immediately.”
“Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign,” he wrote. 
“I wish the campaign and the voters in Maine well as they continue forward with selecting a nominee who they believe is best suited to meet the moment and flip this critical must win seat for us to take back the U.S. Senate in 2026,” Holmes added.
In a statement to <a href="https://x.com/hollyotterbein/status/1984284658612494537">Axios</a>, the Platner campaign said that Holmes left because his role was focused on wooing large donors, while “the reality is our campaign’s fundraising success has come largely from small dollar donors. Nearly 90% of what we’ve raised has come from small dollar donations and online donors, which is run by our digital fundraising director.” 
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Platner’s campaign manager, Kevin Brown, quit after just a few days on the job earlier this week, saying he learned on Friday that he has a child on the way and referred to Platner as a “dear friend,” according to <a href="https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/platner-campaign-manager-steps-down-after-joining-campaign-last-week-social-media-maine-democrats-senate-race-republicans-susan-collins-janet-mills">WGME News</a>.
Political director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-bad-news-keeps-rolling-in-for-graham-platners-senate-campaign?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Bad+News+Keeps+Rolling+In+For+Graham+Platner%E2%80%99s+Senate+Campaign">Genevieve McDonald</a> exited the campaign following resurfaced Reddit posts from Platner, including ones where he labeled himself a communist and said “cops are bastards.”
McDonald spoke out on Facebook after news broke about his Totenkopf tattoo, a Nazi symbol, which he has since gotten covered.
“Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest,” McDonald posted to Facebook. “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.” 
The Daily Wire reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment. He is in a closely-watched primary battle with Maine Governor Janet Mills. On October 25, <a href="https://x.com/grahamformaine/status/1982180731020300403">Platner</a> wrote on X that “voters have seen the DC smear campaign,” and it “isn’t working,” while showing a poll with him beating Mills.
“I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said on Pod Save America earlier this month regarding the tattoo. “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.”
Whoever wins the primary will face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November 2026, in what will be one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.

Another Staffer Quits Graham Platner’s Campaign Over ‘Professional Standards’

campaigns

Democrats

Graham Platner’s campaign manager quit just days after starting the job, the latest in a seemingly unending series of upsets for the Maine Democrat&#8217;s struggling campaign.
Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/27/graham-platner-campaign-manager">reported</a> Monday that Kevin Brown, a friend of Platner&#8217;s, resigned his post shortly after taking it up. Brown follows Platner&#8217;s political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned earlier this month after Platner came under fire for a series of Reddit posts in which he called himself a communist. McDonald made waves following her departure for publicly commenting about Platner’s tattoo with Nazi-era connotations, which he has since gotten covered up.
“Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest,&#8221; McDonald wrote on Facebook. &#8220;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.&#8221;
“Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps,&#8221; Platner wrote on X last week. &#8220;I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn&#8217;t deeply offensive to my core beliefs.&#8221;
“I am very sorry to all of you who had to contemplate a symbol of hate over the past 48 hours,” he added.
Platner told “Pod Save America” that he’s “not a secret Nazi” when discussing the Totenkopf tattoo. 
“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.”
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="http://dailywire.com/Subscribe">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now. 
“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 said. 
“We got those and then we all moved on with our lives,” he added. 
However, a report in<a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/10/graham-platner-ss-tattoo-maine-senate/"> Jewish Insider</a> indicated he knew about the meaning of the symbol as of at least 2012. 
Platner is facing Maine Governor Janet Mills in the state&#8217;s Democratic primary, the winner of which will likely take on Republican Senator Susan Collins in a highly competitive general election race.
A recent poll of likely voters from SoCal Strategies indicated that Mills is leading with 41% compared with 36% for Platner,<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5573485-maine-senate-poll-mills-platner/"> The Hill</a> reported on Saturday. Another poll from the<a href="https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1896&amp;context=survey_center_polls"> University of New Hampshire</a>, taken from Oct. 16-21, showed that 58% of “those who plan to vote” are backing Platner, compared with 24% for the governor.

The Bad News Keeps Rolling In For Graham Platner’s Senate Campaign

There may be no state legislator more popular at The Daily Wire than Laurel Libby.
She took a bold stand for girl’s sport in Maine and refused to budge. But it wasn’t always that way.
As Libby explains, she once failed to stand strong for what was right. Never again. — The Daily Wire
* * *
America’s founders appropriately recognized freedom of speech as the most fundamental right for a flourishing republic. But in today’s America, telling the truth carries a cost.
From social media bans to government censorship to silencing dissent inside our statehouses, the message is clear: if you dare to speak the truth, you will pay a price.
I witnessed this firsthand in Maine’s Democrat-controlled state house, where I was stripped of my right to speak for the people of Maine as their elected representative simply for highlighting biological differences between boys and girls in a state competition.
And the problem is getting worse, not better. Without a renewed commitment to our founding ideals, our society may become free in theory, but authoritarian in practice.
My experience in Maine began in February with a viral social media post. A biological male, who had placed fifth in the boys’ competition the year prior, won the girls’ state pole vault championship. Seeing his female competitor relegated to second place broke my heart.
I could not remain silent.
I posted two publicly available photos side by side. One showed the athlete finishing fifth in the boys’ competition one year; the other showed him taking gold in the girls’ competition the next. Official results had already been available for all to see, but this picture made the unfairness of the situation crystal clear.
Girls in Maine, and across the country, were being forced to compete on unequal terms – not only to justify a political cause, but to signal obedience to an ideology that punishes anyone who questions it.
And punished I was. 
The Maine House Speaker demanded I delete my post. When I refused, I was stripped of my right to speak or vote in the Legislature. Unless and until I issued a formal apology, I would remain barred from representing the nearly 9,000 constituents who elected me.
This wasn’t the first time legislative leadership in Maine used procedural tools to suppress dissent. In May of 2021, the Democratic legislative leadership issued a mask mandate, solely for the State House, after Governor Janet Mills had lifted the state mask mandate.
As a result, Mainers were denied their First Amendment right to assemble, to petition their government, and to speak freely, unless they traded a piece of their liberty. 
I knew it was wrong, and alongside five colleagues, I walked in without a mask.
In response, the Speaker stripped us of our committee assignments and barred us from voting. I agonized over what to do, but in the end, I put a face shield back on, telling myself it was my duty to vote for my constituents.
But the truth is I failed to stand strong in defense of the First Amendment. And that failure taught me that when you give in to fear and intimidation, it only encourages more of both.
This year, I chose not to make the same mistake.
Now, in February, I was confronted with a choice again: to give in or keep fighting. For Maine, for our girls, and for our First Amendment, I chose to fight. 
I filed suit against the Legislature after they barred me for exercising my right to speak truthfully about protecting girls’ sports. And the Supreme Court ruled in my favor and restored my vote!
It was, by any normal standard, the right outcome. But it should never have been necessary. An elected official was forced to file a lawsuit to fulfill her duty to the people of Maine, all because she took a stand for women and girls.
These are the things of totalitarian governments, not the United States.
We still talk about the First Amendment as though it protects us in practice as well as in theory. But in much of American life, the real barriers to speech are procedural, reputational and cultural. They come from norms that shift depending on the issue at hand and the politics of the speaker.
When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I was in Washington, DC. I called home to tell my older children, and my teenager’s first question stopped me in my tracks: “Mom, are you going to stop speaking up?” Without hesitation, I answered: “No. Absolutely not.”
If we stay silent now, we surrender the foundation of liberty. If we bow to intimidation, we hand our children a future where truth is unwelcome and freedom is conditional.
This is not someone else’s fight. It is ours. Parents, teachers, students, pastors, lawmakers, citizens – every one of us has a role to play in protecting the space to speak truthfully, even when it costs us.
This moment is where we stand to lose, or gain, the most. The only way we lose is if we make the choice to silence ourselves.
We cannot be silent. We must speak. We must stand. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.
 * * * 
Laurel Libby is a member of the House of Representatives in Maine.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Maine legislature

Silenced In Maine: How Standing Up For Girl’s Sports Cost Me My Voice

Silenced In Maine: How Standing Up For Girl's Sports Cost Me My Voice

Gender

gender ideology

Leftists

Opinion

Republicans

Transgender Athletes

Bernie Sanders let the cat out of the bag yesterday.
In an interview with <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/23/bernie-sanders-aoc-2028-presidential-election">Axios</a>, he said what I think we&#8217;ve all been thinking: that AOC is almost certainly going to run for president in 2028 — with the backing of Bernie Sanders.
<blockquote>“She is an incredibly intelligent person and in the best sense of the word, a very, very good politician,” he declared. “I&#8217;ve been out on the streets where the people come up and how she responds to people is so incredibly genuine and open, you know, it&#8217;s just something. That&#8217;s a gift that she has. It&#8217;s a quality that she has. She&#8217;s a great speaker out there. She comes from the working class. She was a kid who was cleaning houses with her mother. She knows what it&#8217;s like not to have any money. And she&#8217;s going out fighting for working families all over this country. And I think as a young person who six years ago was a waitress, becoming politically prominent has been incredibly inspiring.”</blockquote>
She&#8217;s not inspiring.
To the wild Left, however, she is inspiring.
Sure, she is a dunderhead who says unintelligent things every five seconds.
But Bernie Sanders is also a dunderhead, and he&#8217;s been able to get away with it for 2,000 decades at this point. I believe he was a contemporaneous follower of Methuselah.
Sanders has taken over the Democratic Party wholesale at this point.
They are moving further and further to the Left. And one of his chosen acolytes is Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat running for the Senate who leads in the polls by leaps and bounds.
According to new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maine-senate-candidate-graham-platner-socialist-group-linked-to-ice-attack-tesla-bombings?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=24&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Maine+Dem+Graham+Platner+Belonged+To+Socialist+Group+Linked+To+ICE+Attack%2C+Tesla+Bombings">reporting</a> from our own Luke Rosiak:
<blockquote>Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner was a member of a radical Left group whose members have been linked to a slew of attacks, including an assault on an ICE facility that was designated a terrorist attack this month as part of a crackdown on Antifa.
Maine’s Democrat Senate primary was upended after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/politics/kfile-graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-deleted-reddit-posts">CNN</a> reported that Platner had called himself a “communist” in posts on the Reddit forum r/SocialistRA, where he wrote that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.”
The forum name refers to the Socialist Rifle Association, a group whose members have been repeatedly linked to violent political crimes.
On July 4, a group of militants allegedly swarmed law enforcement at an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas and “opened fire at the unarmed DHS correctional officers.” One of them, Benjamin Hanil Song, is charged with shooting a police officer in the neck. Song was a member of the Socialist Rifle Association’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, a fellow group member told <a href="https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-07-22/shooting-at-alvarado-ice-facility-other-attacks-the-new-normal">KERA</a>.
Last week, the Department of Justice charged two suspects in that attack, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts, with providing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-hits-antifa-with-very-first-terrorism-charges-in-anti-ice-attack">material support to terrorists</a>, calling their crew an “Antifa Cell.” It was the first use of the terrorism statute against domestic extremists since Trump ordered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ups-the-ante-orders-cabinet-to-label-antifa-a-foreign-terror-organization">crackdown</a> on far-left political violence. Arnold, like the founders of the Socialist Rifle Association, is transgender and goes by the name Autumn Hill.
Membership in the Socialist Rifle Association isn’t required for users to post on the Reddit forum. But a New England publication, the <a href="https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/ex-marine-graham-platner-taught-military">Robinson Report</a>, revealed that Platner explicitly described his membership in the group.
“Check out the Maine SRA chapter, we’re quite active,” he wrote in April 2020. In August 2020, he said “my local SRA chapter” does “lots of range days, firearms education classes, and developing mutual aid networks in our community.”</blockquote>
Images of the main chapter include a man training in a pink tutu shooting a gun, and one who has facial hair matching Platner’s.
This is a person, a Nazi-tattooed Antifa-training pseudo-man-of-the-people oyster farmer, who went to a $75,000-a-year prep school when he was younger.
And he’s Sanders’ chosen guy in the Senate race in Maine. If the Democrats wish to embrace this sort of radicalism, I do not think the American people will move alongside them.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2303-i-m-shocked-shocked-to-find-nba-gambling-going-on?elementPosition=2&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
I know there are a lot of Republicans who are rooting for the socialists to take over the Democratic Party.
I am not.
I&#8217;ve been saying this since 2020, when Bernie Sanders was running against Joe Biden. I said I preferred Joe Biden to be the nominee rather than Bernie Sanders, even if Bernie was more likely to lose to Donald Trump.
Why? Because the risk factor in having a socialist leader was higher than the risk factor in having a “dead” leader like Joe Biden.
Even if Joe Biden had slightly higher odds to win the presidency than Bernie Sanders, if I had to calculate the damage that a Bernie Sanders presidency would do versus a Joe Biden presidency, it would be astronomically higher under Bernie Sanders than Joe Biden, no matter how bad Joe Biden was.
I feel the same way about the Democratic Party falling wholesale to the wild-Left democratic socialists. If they do that, it’s true there&#8217;s a lower chance that they will win power anytime soon.
But to pretend that chance doesn&#8217;t exist is to whistle past the graveyard.
Let&#8217;s say, for example, that the Democratic Party has a 40% shot of winning the White House in 2028 right now with some sort of pseudo-moderate, like a Gavin Newsom or a Wes Moore. And let&#8217;s say they have a 30% shot of winning the White House with a clear, insane socialist like AOC at the top of the ticket.
The damage that would be done by Wes Moore or Gavin Newsom would be a seven out of ten, and the damage done by an AOC would be a ten out of ten.
I would rather take the low-risk scenario, even if there&#8217;s a greater risk that the person might become president, than take the absolutely disastrous apocalyptic scenario of having a Democratic party controlled by the nutjobs.
This is why the rise of the Zohran Mamdani Left is truly, truly troubling.
* * *
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Bernie Sanders And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Hold “Fighting Oligarchy” Rally In L.A.

Sanders Backs AOC For 2028. The Radical Left’s Grip On Democrats Tightens.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Ben Shapiro

Bernie Sanders

Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner was a member of a radical Left group whose members have been linked to a slew of attacks, including an assault on an ICE facility that was designated a terrorist attack this month as part of a crackdown on Antifa.
Maine&#8217;s Democrat Senate primary was upended after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/politics/kfile-graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-deleted-reddit-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> reported that Platner had called himself a &#8220;communist&#8221; in posts on the Reddit forum r/SocialistRA, where he wrote that if people &#8220;expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.&#8221;
The forum name refers to the Socialist Rifle Association, a group whose members have been repeatedly linked to violent political crimes.
On July 4, a group of militants allegedly swarmed law enforcement at an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas and “opened fire at the unarmed DHS correctional officers.” One of them, Benjamin Hanil Song, is charged with shooting a police officer in the neck. Song was a member of the Socialist Rifle Association’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, a fellow group member told <a href="https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-07-22/shooting-at-alvarado-ice-facility-other-attacks-the-new-normal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KERA</a>.
Last week, the Department of Justice charged two suspects in that attack, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts, with providing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-hits-antifa-with-very-first-terrorism-charges-in-anti-ice-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">material support to terrorists</a>, calling their crew an &#8220;Antifa Cell.&#8221; It was the first use of the terrorism statute against domestic extremists since Trump ordered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ups-the-ante-orders-cabinet-to-label-antifa-a-foreign-terror-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crackdown</a> on far-left political violence. Arnold, like the founders of the Socialist Rifle Association, is transgender and goes by the name Autumn Hill.
Membership in the Socialist Rifle Association isn&#8217;t required for users to post on the Reddit forum. But a New England publication, the <a href="https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/ex-marine-graham-platner-taught-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robinson Report</a>, revealed that Platner explicitly described his membership in the group.
&#8220;Check out the Maine SRA chapter, we&#8217;re quite active,&#8221; he wrote in April 2020. In August 2020, he said &#8220;my local SRA chapter&#8221; does &#8220;lots of range days, firearms education classes, and developing mutual aid networks in our community.&#8221;
Images of the Maine chapter training include a man in a pink tutu shooting a gun, and one who — though the group blurred the faces of its members — has facial hair matching Platner&#8217;s, Robinson reported.
Platner, who would face off against Republican Senator Susan Collins in the general election and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), said he made the comments after a difficult time period serving in the military.
“When I got back from Afghanistan in 2011, I stayed in the Army for another year. I got out in 2012. Some of the worst comments I made, the things that I’m — I think are least defensible, that I wouldn’t even try to defend, come from that time,” he said.
The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/socialist-rifle-association-linked-to-numerous-violent-attacks">chronicled</a> Socialist Rifle Association members charged with crimes of political violence.
In October 2021, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.353608/gov.uscourts.flnd.353608.2.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Alan Baker</a> of Florida was sentenced to 44 months in prison for threats. After the pro-Trump Capitol protest on January 6, 2021, Baker offered “cash rewards for information leading to the verified identification of an and every individual in this video. Don’t worry, I wont ne [sic] going to the cops. We have decided to handle this ourselves.” Baker told prosecutors that he was a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59305500/81/united-states-v-baker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">member</a> of the Socialist Rifle Association, and said, “I believe that the philosophy of an anarchism leads to socialism. And I believe that the government should provide for everyone’s housing, healthcare, food. I even believe that the government should distribute weapons to people who are loyal citizens.”
On January 20, 2025, the day Donald Trump was sworn in as president, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.185254/gov.uscourts.ord.185254.1.1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adam Matthew Lansky</a> allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon. He returned to the same dealership a month later and shot it up using a semi-automatic rifle with a suppressor, according to court documents. “Lansky is a competitive shooter and a former member of the Socialist Rifle Association. He is skilled and well-practiced in the use of firearms and combat scenarios. The [improvised incendiary devices] used by Lansky were all manufactured by him,” prosecutors <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69768879/22/united-states-v-lansky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
On March 18, 2025, in Las Vegas, Paul Hyon Kim set on fire and shot up five Teslas, leaving a Molotov cocktail inside one, <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69803347/1/united-states-v-kim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charging documents</a> said. Tesla had, of course, been treated as a political symbol by the left because of Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump. The court papers said, “Kim has an Instagram page where he follows the Socialist Rifle Association’s page. In a post from October 2018, on the Reno Socialist Rifle Association’s Instagram page, is a picture of a subject that appears to be Paul Kim training with firearms.”
A <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/cf9i4r/wait_is_the_sra_mostly_tankies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> of Socialist Rifle Association members found that it was 30% anarchist, 30% Marxist-Leninist or Maoist, 30% Democratic Socialist, and 10% other.
The Socialist Rifle Association was incorporated in Kansas in 2019 by Alexander Tackett, who later began identifying as a woman named Alex Norma Tackett. A website for a queer bookstore he owned <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221207035629/https://sweetreadsict.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “Lilith [it/she] &amp; Alex Tackett [she/it] are a trans lesbian couple living in Wichita with their six-year-old son.”
The group&#8217;s co-founder was Faye Ecklar, who explained that “I believe firearms ownership is necessary because as a transgender socialist, half the country wants me dead, and the other half is happy to watch. Plus, the means of production won’t seize themselves.”
Platner has faced a wave of negative publicity since his old Reddit posts resurfaced, much of which centers around the Democrat&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/graham-platner-has-known-about-his-tattoos-nazi-connotations-since-2012">Nazi chest tattoo</a>.

Socialist Rifle Association card and one of its members

Maine Dem Graham Platner Belonged To Socialist Group Linked To ICE Attack, Tesla Bombings

Socialism

Terrorism

Democrats are in a tough position in the Senate races in 2026, as there are few vulnerable seats for Republicans.
One of those vulnerable seats was supposed to be in Maine, where Susan Collins, who is a Republican senator from a very purple to blue state, looked to be vulnerable against the Democrats. The Democrat chosen to run by the party was Graham Platner.
Graham Platner is a Bernie Sanders acolyte. He&#8217;s a far-leftist.
And now he is in trouble.
He’s in trouble because he is a radical, insane communist who seems to like Nazis. I don&#8217;t know where all this fondness for Nazis is coming from, but it does seem like a bizarre number of people are kind of into the Nazis these days.
The reason this is coming up is because Graham Platner apparently released a video showing him shirtless when he was drunk at some sort of event, and displayed a Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest.
Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/21/graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-tattoo">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Platner drew the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as an anti-establishment outsider, but his campaign is already trying to clean up recently resurfaced Reddit posts where he espoused offensive views about Black people and sexual assault victims. Platner&#8217;s campaign shared video with Pod Save America of him singing shirtless that exposed a skull tattoo on his chest that resembles the &#8220;Totenkopf,&#8221; a symbol used by Hitler&#8217;s Schutzstaffel (SS). The move was intended to get ahead of opposition research, and the GOP&#8217;s Senate campaign arm seized on the images, accusing Platner of having a &#8220;Nazi tattoo.&#8221;</blockquote>
Platner then decided to go on the Pod Save America podcast, joining Tommy Vietor (former van driver for Barack Obama).
Platner said that the video was from his brother&#8217;s wedding, adding, “I am not a secret Nazi.”
It’s never a great political sign when you have to say you&#8217;re not a secret Nazi.
“I went to college,” Platner said. “I went to the gym, I did all the things. And at no point in this entire experience, of my life, did anybody ever once say, hey, you&#8217;re a Nazi. It never came up. Until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo. And I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I&#8217;ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”
Controversy has now broken out over whether he meant to have a Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2301-a-democratic-senate-candidate-with-a-nazi-tattoo?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Now, I don&#8217;t know how many people accidentally have Nazi symbols tattooed on their chests. I feel like the number is relatively low. That&#8217;s not something you just randomly stumble onto. You get drunk one night and say, “Hey, let me get that Nazi tattoo here on my chest.”
Jewish Insider (JI) <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/10/graham-platner-ss-tattoo-maine-senate/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/totenkopf">Totenkopf</a>, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II. “He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told Jewish Insider recently, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “He said it in a cutesy little way.”
The exchange occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a popular dive on Capitol Hill where Platner later worked as a bartender and was a frequent patron while he attended The George Washington University on the G.I. bill, according to the former acquaintance. He would often take his shirt off drinking with friends late at night at the bar, and on at least one occasion had stated he knew what the tattoo represented, the former acquaintance recalled.
Platner gave varying accounts of the image during this time, saying at one point he was aware it was a Totenkopf when he had first gotten the tattoo several years prior and at another time claiming he had not known, according to the former acquaintance. </blockquote>
That is why he&#8217;s revealing the video now, early, in an attempt to get past it before the vote.
JI continued:
<blockquote>Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who <a href="https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/17/politics/elections/former-maine-lawmaker-resigns-graham-platner-campaign/">resigned</a> from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.” “He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff,” McDonald <a href="https://image.jewishinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/21135315/PHOTO-2025-10-21-19-24-33.jpg">wrote in the post</a>, which was reviewed by JI. “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.”</blockquote>
This is not a gigantic shock coming from Platner because there were a bunch of Reddit posts that are pretty ugly as well. In one of them, he openly described himself as a communist. He called all cops “bastards” and dismissed sexual assault in the military. He also defended a man with a Nazi SS lightning bolt tattoo who later admitted to impersonating a federal officer at a BLM protest in Las Vegas in 2020.
What&#8217;s amazing about this — aside from the fact that Graham Platner seems to be a bit of a scumbag — is this the kind of stuff that would normally get you canceled, especially by Democrats (if you weren’t a Democrat).
Jon Lovett, one of the Pod Save America brothers, <a href="https://x.com/jonlovett/status/1980783543354810546">tweeted out:</a>
<blockquote>Only perfect candidates off the Harvard law conveyor belt pls, highly disciplined, all boxes checked, well liked and humble, absolutely no spiritual connection to having a physical body except for severe IBS, volunteered at a soup kitchen in high school, signs email ‘cheers,’ etc.</blockquote>
There&#8217;s a big gap between that and the drunken dude who is routinely spewing garbage and has a Nazi tattoo on his chest.
Also, Jon Lovett routinely calls people Nazis. Interesting how that double standard immediately applies.
Bernie Sanders <a href="https://x.com/igorbobic/status/1980703417229000878">declared</a>, “There’s a young man who served his country in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he went through some really difficult experiences seeing friends of his killed or whatever, and in spite of all of that he had the courage to run. I personally think he is an excellent candidate. I’m going to support him.”
I don&#8217;t think Sanders would be making the same excuses if the person were on the other side of the aisle.
When asked about Platner’s comments on sexual assault, Sanders then shot back, “Have you served four tours of duty?”
I love Bernie Sanders pulling out the patriotic military service card after spending an entire career ripping on the American military industrial complex and America&#8217;s foreign policy.
But in the end, this is the Democratic Party. It is all about power. It is not about actual, consistent argumentation. They are perfectly happy to have a self-described commie with a Nazi tattoo on his chest running for the Senate in Maine. If it means the Republicans lose control of the Senate, that&#8217;s it.
That&#8217;s what really matters to them in the end.
* * *
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