"No, no no; not weakened, our appeal has just become 'more selective'"

Bernie says he still “stands by him absolutely”, so there’s that, i guess

Maine’s totenknopf senatorial candidate Graham Platner says controversies have ‘strengthened’ his campaign

The self-avowed communist, man of the people, who has previously described rural Mainers — his future constituents, he hopes — as dumb white racists, and wears (or wore, until two weeks ago) an SS death head tattoo on his chest, says he’s not worried about today’s primary contest.

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner said a string of controversies have only “strengthened” his campaign.

Platner’s comments to NBC News come on the heels of the resignations of his national finance director Ronald Holmes III and his campaign manager and longtime friend Kevin Brown last week [and on October 17th, that of the campaign’s political director Genevieve McDonald]. Holmes said he resigned Friday because he feels his “professional standards” are “no longer fully aligned with those” of Platner’s campaign. Brown resigned days into his role after learning he has a baby on the way.

“It is amusing for me to watch the campaign described in the media as collapsing or falling apart — when internally, we frankly have not felt this strong since the beginning,” Platner told NBC News. “It hasn’t sunk my campaign. In fact it seems, in many ways, it’s strengthened us.”

The insurgent Democrat’s bid to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2026 has been beset with controversy over the past three weeks.

Last month, a video of Platner surfaced showing him with a tattoo depicting a skull superimposed over crossbones, similar to the Totenkopf symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II. 

Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer from Sullivan, denies knowing that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol. He has said he got the tattoo in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. While on leave, Platner and other Marines went to Croatia, where they got “very inebriated” and decided to get tattoos. He said that they all picked “terrifying” designs off the wall.

Platner has further denied allegations from Genevieve McDonald, a former state representative who resigned as his campaign’s political director, that he knew the tattoo was problematic weeks ago. He told The Associated Press that he has covered the tattoo.

Before that, his campaign was contending with the fallout from numerous deleted Reddit posts in which Platner asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggesting that women concerned about rape not drink around certain people, among others.

Then, on Oct. 22, Platner confirmed to The Advocate that he was the author of a number of Reddit posts featuring homophobic slurs, anti-LGBTQ+ jokes and sexually explicit stories denigrating gay men.

He called the posts “indefensible,” according to The Advocate.

And then proceeded to try to defend them.

If Graham is sent packing after April’s primary, he can always go home, grab a handle of vodka and watch “This is Spinal Tap”

Fortunately, Graham will always have his inclusion in New York Magazine’s (they’re still around?) cover story on “25 Young(ish) Democrats to Watch” to console him, and remind him of better days.