Democrats defend Senate candidate with apparent Nazi tattoo, communist identification

Graham Platner, a Maine-based oyster farmer, announced in August that he was running as a Democrat to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, quickly securing the endorsement of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

While the entry of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) into the race last week was undoubtedly bad news for Platner, competition from a geriatric fellow traveler is hardly the greatest threat now facing his campaign.

'Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff.'

Last week, a number of damning posts Platner previously made on Reddit came to light — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," and smeared all police officers as "bastards."

Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told CNN that Platner's posts were not disqualifying.

California Rep. Ro Khanna (D), who previously endorsed Platner, also rushed to defend the Democratic candidate, stating, "I respect Platner's journey & the man he is today," adding, "I stand by my endorsement. I won't cower to the establishment."

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Rep. Rohit Khanna. Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Within days of Platner issuing an apology for his past remarks on Reddit and Khanna's defense, the Collins challenger found himself once again having to address poor decisions from his past.

Footage recently went viral showing Platner lip-syncing to a Miley Cyrus song with his shirt off. Astute observers noticed in the newly resurfaced video that Platner had a "totenkopf" tattoo on his chest.

Totenkopf, which is German for "death's head," is a skull image popularized by Adolf Hitler's Schutzstaffel elite guard and adopted as the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the concentration camps.

"It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol," Platner said in a statement to Politico on Tuesday. "I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed."

Genevieve McDonald, who resigned as the political director of Platner's campaign last week over the Reddit posts, noted in a Facebook post that "Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. 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."

McDonald suggested that Platner's campaign released the footage "to try to get ahead of it."

Blaze News has reached out to Sen. Collins' office for comment.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee was among the groups that made hay of the tattoo, sharing a screenshot from the video and referring to the totenkopf image as a "Nazi tattoo."

"This tattoo appears to be a ‘death’s head’ symbol used by the SS, the organization most responsible for the genocidal murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims during WWII," Zach Schwartz, director of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine's Jewish Community Relations Council, said in a statement. "We hope that Mr. Platner would condemn, in no uncertain terms, the meaning behind this tattoo and everything it stands for."

On the Monday episode of the podcast "Pod Save America," Platner said, "I'm not a secret Nazi."

"I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and anti-Semitism and racism in general," added Platner, whose comment history on Reddit also hints at an affinity for Antifa.

Sanders has underscored his continued support for Platner's campaign, suggesting to Politico that Platner got the Nazi tattoo while inebriated and is "not the only one in America who has gone through a dark period."

"People go through that, he has apologized for the stupid remarks, the hurtful remarks that he made, and I'm confident that he's going to run a great campaign and that he's going to win," added Sanders.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told Semafor on Tuesday that he too continues to support Platner, stating, "The Democratic Party needs to be big enough to accept people who have hard lives, who have made mistakes and have actually owned up to those mistakes. And that's what he's done."

Heinrich, who has reportedly directed money from his leadership PAC to Platner, suggested that while he does not like some of the Maine candidate's past remarks, he likes "what he's campaigning on and the way he's connecting to working-class voters."

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