Maine Senate candidate Graham Plattner growing controversy Democrats are testing the willingness of voters and politicians to support a compromise candidate who may be their best option to defeat Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) next year.
Plattner has been hit A series of negative headlines In recent times. The most notable revelation was that he had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol on his chest, which he later hid, as well as that he had made several controversial statements in the past on Reddit.
Many of his supporters are standing with him now, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). And recent polling has shown Plattner is far more popular than his top Democratic rival, Gov. Janet Mills, raising questions about whether voters will overlook his burden as the party looks for a new generation of leaders who can appeal to a broader demographic.
“I think Donald Trump has changed our politics for a long time, some for the better and some for the worse,” Rocha told The Hill. “In my opinion, the good work he’s done has proven that people don’t have to be perfect. They can have flaws and America is very forgiving.”
But other Democrats say they are unwilling to forgive Plattner.
An unnamed Democratic strategist said, “I don’t understand how we can move forward from a subset of the party that is obsessed with calling Donald Trump a Nazi and then going to such great lengths to apologize for a Nazi tattoo.”
Plattner’s allies say it is unfair to compare his tattoos to Trump’s authoritarian style of governing.
“There’s a big difference between a Republican who supports Trump’s Gestapo-like tactics, taking people off the street and sending them to El Salvador without due process and [someone] “Those who have Nazi symbols attached to themselves,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Campaign Committee for Progressive Change.
“One is someone who is affirming an entire ideology that they really believe in, and in the case of Graham Platner, it’s an unfortunate bump in the road,” he said.
Last week, CNN’s KFile reviewed posts Plattner once wrote on Reddit in 2020 and 2021, in which he criticized police officers, expressed frustration and disillusionment about his time serving in the military and talked about being a “communist” and a “socialist.”
And earlier this week, LGBTQ news magazine The Advocate published Plattner’s previous Reddit posts, which he originally posted under the handle P-Hustle from 2016-21, in which he used vulgar, anti-gay slurs and used the word “gay” as an insult.
The latest, and what some Democrats say, is the most serious controversy is over tattoos like Totenkopf, which means “death’s head” in German. This image was a symbol adopted by Adolf Hitler’s forces in Nazi Germany.
Plattner has apologized for the Reddit posts and said there was “no reason to deny” the anti-gay Reddit posts and called them “inexcusable”. Plattner also said that he covered up the tattoo and did not realize it resembled a Nazi symbol until he heard it from reporters in Washington.
Plattner’s supporters argue that candidates like him are a response to the growing demand for generational change within the party. Democrats have grappled with the issue of age over the past year, following former President Biden’s decision not to seek re-election amid concerns over his mental acuity and fitness for office. Additionally, three House Democrats over the age of 70 died while in office this year.
On top of that, they point to the party’s desire to appeal to more working-class voters, a demographic Democrats lost in last year’s presidential elections.
Green argued, “We are living in an outsider’s moment. There is a longing for people who are not creatures of the political system.” “Someone who makes mistakes, admits it, and moves on to fight for working people is more palatable to most people than a 77-year-old governor who is considered a Chuck Schumer-backed creature on the inside.”
The unnamed Democratic strategist hit back at this argument, saying that the anti-establishment, progressive wing of the party risks alienating minority voters.
The unnamed strategist said, “Yes, we are looking for fresh, young, new, interesting voices in the Democratic Party but those voices can’t come with Nazi tattoos.” “He has a long history of not having any kind of full minority support.”
Democrats also say they fear the controversies plaguing Plattner will ultimately serve as fuel for Collins and her Republican allies.
A second unnamed Democratic strategist said, “It matters next October when Republicans are putting money behind this in paid media.” “If you are honestly serious about defeating Susan Collins, and now you have these headlines that exist and you know that Republicans are going to spend as much money as humanly possible to help Senator Collins. [get] If re-elected, you should think twice about whether or not you’ll give him the chance to put money behind some of these headlines.
The Plattner controversy comes as another statewide candidate in Virginia grapples with scandal, less than two weeks away from Election Day. Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones has recently faced a backlash from Republicans over messages he sent in his 2022 campaign in which he openly talked about shooting the former GOP state House Speaker and suggested that he would want the Speaker’s wife to watch her children die so that her husband would reconsider his political views on gun violence.
The scandal has created a major headache for Democrats in an election where the environment is arguably more favorable to their party.
“We have to vet the candidates. We’re in a rebuilding period. These are the candidates who are going to represent the party going forward,” said a previously unnamed Democratic strategist.
Mary Anne Marsh, a New England-based Democratic strategist, said there are risks in having an unvetted candidate win a general election.
“There’s a cost benefit analysis of making someone the nominee and then if they prevail, what will they be like when they’re in office?” Marsh said.
A third unnamed national Democratic strategist urged Washington’s consulting class and Democratic leadership to step back and let voters decide.
Noting the divide between establishment and anti-establishment Democrats over the New York City mayoral race, the strategist said, “Look what has been done in New York? You have made a molehill here.”
The strategist urged the national Democratic class to remember that different candidates fit better in certain constituencies.
“What works in Maine won’t work in Michigan or Wisconsin,” the strategist said.
And for now, Platner remains in good standing among Maine’s Democratic voters.
The Reddit post and polling conducted just before the tattoo news showed enthusiasm for Plattner among Maine’s Democratic base.
The University New Hampshire Survey Center poll, conducted between October 16 and 21, found Plattner leading Mills 58 to 24 percent among Maine Democratic primary voters. Another 14 percent said they were undecided and two percent said they would support other candidates. The poll’s margin of error among Democratic primary voters was plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
And recent internal polling conducted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows that the party’s voters remain with him despite the controversies.
Plattner leads among Democratic primary voters with 46 percent support, while Mills trails with 25 percent. Jordan Wood, another Democratic candidate, received three percent of the vote in the poll and 26 percent said they were undecided.
But there are also Maine Democrats who are condemning Plattner and rallying behind Mills. On Friday, Deira Smith-Rodriguez dropped out of the race and endorsed Mills, citing Plattner’s past comments about military rape.
“As a survivor of military sexual assault, if there is any possibility that someone who questions the reality of this crisis could be elevated to the United States Senate, I cannot in good conscience signal support or remain silent,” she said in a statement.
