Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday threw his support behind Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a Democrat facing intense scrutiny over a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol and a history of inflammatory online comments. Van Hollen argued that the candidate should be given an opportunity to move past his mistakes.
During an interview with Punchbowl News, co-host Jake Sherman described Platner's tattoo as “disqualifying,” but Van Hollen pushed back. “Let’s take a couple issues, including the comments he’s made in the past,” Van Hollen said. “He’s been very clear that he went into combat on behalf of the United States, he went through a really rough period, PTSD-type period.”
Platner initially denied that the tattoo resembled a symbol used by Adolf Hitler’s troops in Nazi Germany. He later acknowledged the similarity and covered it up, stating he wanted it removed. He also declared himself a “lifelong opponent” of “Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general.”
The candidate, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, has faced a wave of criticism for past Reddit posts uncovered by CNN’s KFILE. These included using a slur offensive to people with special needs, calling himself a “communist,” branding all police officers “bastards,” and asserting that rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid.
The Washington Post additionally reported that Platner downplayed the challenges service members face in reporting sexual assault, suggesting that victims should “not get so f—ed up that they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” He later disavowed those remarks, attributing them to his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Afghanistan in 2011.
On the “Pod Save America” show, Platner argued that voters would see “this is not at all the person that they have come to know, and come to interact with in reality.” Van Hollen echoed that sentiment, saying, “He himself said there are lots of things he’s done and said that he completely regrets, and I do believe people should have second chances and that people can learn from their mistakes, and I think he’s been doing that.”
Democrats have rallied around Platner, a progressive outsider, after primary rival Governor Janet Mills ended her bid on Thursday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who initially backed Mills, has since joined the party’s Senate campaign arm, along with Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in endorsing Platner. The race is expected to be one of the tightest in the country.
Platner expressed optimism about working with the term-limited governor to defeat incumbent Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and “turn this seat blue again.” He framed the contest as a broader movement, stating, “The race has never been about me or really about one person, it’s about a movement of working Mainers who are fed up with being robbed by billionaires and the politicians who own them.”
For more on the Democratic consolidation behind Platner, see Maine Dems Unite Behind Oyster Farmer Platner After Mills Exits Senate Race. Also, read about his vow to challenge the status quo in Platner Vows to 'Tear Down the System' After Mills Exits Maine Senate Race.
