As he remains defiant, Graham Platner’s candidacy for Maine Senate becomes a progressive litmus test

By Eva McKend, CNN

(CNN) — Speaking at a town hall following days of negative revelations about his online posts and a tattoo that resembled Nazi imagery, Graham Platner was defiant.

“The amount of money and time it takes to dig through somebody’s entire past who has not lived a very public life is extensive and yet they are willing to expend those resources,” Platner told the audience in Ogunquit, Maine, on Wednesday evening.

“They are not trying to organize people. They are trying to destroy my life,” he pushed back.

As the Democratic Party tries to find its way after last year’s loss to President Donald Trump, progressives are also engaged in an internal struggle over what disqualifies a candidate they like. Platner’s candidacy for US Senate from Maine is the latest litmus test as Democrats try to decide their candidate against moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has been notoriously hard for Democrats to beat in her career.

“Voters are willing to absorb a certain amount of negativity in a personal life of a candidate in order for it to advance their policy preferences,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

CNN first reported that Platner once referred to himself as a communist and dismissed police as bastards.

Then came a wave of stories showing other posts online in which Platner appeared to downplay sexual assault in the military, questioned whether Black people tip and suggested people who are inebriated are at fault if they put themselves in situations where they could be raped.

In a new video he posted to social media Wednesday before the town hall, Platner apologized for the tattoo and said he had no knowledge the skull and crossbones imagery was associated with Nazis. Platner lifted his shirt to show a new tattoo of a Celtic knot to replace the old one.

Rottinghaus suggests that if Platner can illustrate he can win, the notoriety around his online posts may not ultimately matter to enough voters in a Democratic primary.

“Partisan voters are willing to trade ideological proximity for some degree of scandalized candidates,” said Rottinghaus.

For many on the left, the gravelly voiced Platner represents what Democrats need in the current political moment: a plainspoken Marine adept at capturing attention and drawing in working-class voters Democrats have lost. He’s commanding big crowds as he campaigns across his home state, running on a platform of supporting Medicare for All and raising the federal minimum wage.

Others argue Platner’s comments and the revelation of his tattoo should be disqualifying and question how progressives would react if a Republican had faced the same revelations, though the GOP has faced similar questions about the muted response of some top conservatives to the disclosure of antisemitic and violent messages from a Young Republicans group chat.

Platner has won the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is standing by him.

“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 in war,” Sanders said Tuesday, going on to imply that the Democratic establishment is engaged in a campaign of character assassination.

“And despite all of that, he had the courage to run for the United States Senate, to stand up to the powers that be, and to fight for the working class of this country,” he added. “I personally think he is an excellent candidate. I’m going to support him and look forward to him becoming the next senator in the state of Maine.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has voiced support for Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who announced her bid last week.

“We think that Janet Mills is the best candidate to retire Susan Collins. She’s a tested two-term governor and the people of Maine have an enormous amount of affection and respect for her,” Schumer said.

Platner is not the only Democratic politician facing criticism about his past statements.

When news broke earlier this month of violent text messages Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, sent in 2022, it roiled the off-year election in the state.

In a private exchange between Jones and Republican Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones griped about how the then-speaker of the House of Delegates, Republican Todd Gilbert, was paying tribute to a former moderate Democratic lawmaker who died, according to screenshots of text messages obtained by CNN. “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” the text reads in part, referring to Gilbert and the two dictators.

But in the weeks since, Democrats have been steadfast in their support for Jones and disciplined in their messaging in response to the scandal. They have denounced the texts as indefensible but argued Virginia voters should have the opportunity to decide Jones’ fate, they say — and by the time Republicans released the information, hundreds of thousands of Virginians had already started voting.

“I mean for me, it’s a little more personal, because I’ve known Jay all his life, and his family and my family go back decades,” said Angelia Williams Graves, a state senator representing Norfolk.

“No matter what was in those text messages, I know that Jay Jones is not willing to sacrifice Virginians for Donald Trump,” she added.

Platner was introduced Wednesday night by his mother following a performance by a Maine singer songwriter. He spent much of the town hall talking about the significance of broadening the Democratic coalition.

“I don’t care if you voted for Donald Trump, if you voted for Kamala Harris or you didn’t vote, you go around this state right now, you go ask any working person, do you think you work in an economic and political system that is built with your interest at heart, nobody says yes. Everybody knows that they are being robbed,” he said.

He echoed many of the policy ideas he shares with Sanders and told the crowd he is committed to staying in the race.

“Clearly they haven’t spent a lot of time around Marines,” he said.

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