Graham Platner Tests Whether Democrats Have Abandoned Their Purity Tests
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is asking Democratic voters to send him to Congress despite a Nazi-associated tattoo, years of offensive social media posts, and a sexting scandal that his own wife flagged to his campaign. So far, they appear willing to do it.
Senior Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have reaffirmed their support for Platner’s bid to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine, even as a handful of party voices have questioned whether he is the right candidate to carry what Democrats consider their best shot at flipping a Senate seat in November.
The episode is forcing a direct question on the party: after years of holding candidates to strict standards of personal and ideological conduct, are Democrats now willing to set that standard aside when a Senate majority is on the line?
What Controversies Has Graham Platner Faced?
The Maine primary is June 9, and Platner’s chief rival for the nomination, Governor Janet Mills, exited the race in April. That timing may have proved critical for him. The cascade of controversies that later engulfed Platner would likely have ended most campaigns before primary voters headed to the polls.
The 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran from Sullivan, Maine, has apologized for past social media posts that were dismissive of sexual assault and disparaging of rural white residents, which he attributed to years of depression and isolation following his combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He covered up a tattoo his campaign acknowledged bore a Nazi association-a skull and crossbones he said he got with fellow Marines in Croatia while on leave, and which he said he carried for 17 years without it flagging on two security clearance screenings. He then lost top campaign staff.
Then came reports by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that his wife had told a senior campaign aide that he sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women during their marriage.
A campaign official confirmed to Newsweek that the texts existed but said Platner objected to the “sensationalization” of the coverage. His wife, Amy Gertner, released a video calling the reports “gossip” and said, “Being married is hard.”
In a private meeting with some Senate Democrats, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Platner attempted to quell growing concerns from some in the party that the string of negative revelations had jeopardized his candidacy.
Schumer, who had backed Maine Governor Janet Mills before she suspended her campaign in April, stood behind Platner when reporters pressed him after the encounter on Tuesday. “We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” Schumer said repeatedly. When questions continued, he tried to change the subject. “Any other subject you’ve got?”
Why Are Bernie Sanders and Progressives Still Backing Platner?
The loudest voices defending Platner have come from the party’s left flank, the same coalition that drove his candidacy past Mills from the start.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who endorsed Platner before the controversies began, told the Associated Press on Monday that he was not reconsidering.
“People can’t afford healthcare. Can’t afford groceries. Can’t afford to put gas in their cars,” Sanders said. “And I think it might be a good idea if we focused on the important issues facing the working families of Maine and this country.”
Asked directly whether he still backed Platner, he was unequivocal. “Of course. Why would I not?”
Representative Ro Khanna of California reiterated his support after the sexting reports and is scheduled to appear with Platner at a get-out-the-vote rally in Bar Harbor on Friday. Senator Elizabeth Warren said her focus remained on what Platner would do for Maine voters on the economy. Senator Martin Heinrich said he did not believe Maine voters were focused on Platner’s marriage.
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis framed the Platner situation as a direct application of that argument. “If you think about this purely as a harm-reduction voter, I’d rather Platner be in the Senate than Collins,” Nellis told Newsweek. “She’s a rubber stamp for Trump who will approve his SCOTUS picks and certainly isn’t going to stand up to him on launching stupid forever wars.”
Which Democrats Are Skeptical of Platner?
Not every Democrat has fallen in line.
Senator Cory Booker told ABC News he had “concerns.”
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania went further, calling Platner “phustle”-a reference to a username found on Kik, a private messaging application-and saying he had lost count of the controversies. “So much bizarre and tacky and gross stuff that you lose count. It’s like you need to have a bingo card,” Fetterman said. He stopped short of calling on Platner to step aside but said, “I’m not going to carry water for that guy.”
Levar Stoney, the former mayor of Richmond, Virginia, raised a sharper concern. “I can’t help but think that if this candidate were a person of color or a woman, my party would be asking them to consider stepping aside immediately,” Stoney wrote on social media. “A Nazi tattoo. Now this. I want Democrats to take back the Senate – but not like this.”
Are Democrats Abandoning Their Purity Tests to Win the Senate?
The durability of Platner’s support has revived a debate that has run through the Democratic Party for years. During the peak of progressive activism, roughly 2018 to 2021, candidates and officials faced sustained pressure to meet strict standards on both policy and personal conduct. Critics inside the party argued that the standard became a liability, narrowing the field and alienating voters the party needed.
In 2019, former President Barack Obama warned Democratic donors against what he called purity tests. “I am always suspicious of purity tests during elections,” Obama said. “Because, you know what, the country is complicated.”
Yet while most Democrats continue to back Platner, Nellis was critical of how the campaign handled its vetting process.
“His backers really should have done a better job of finding a better candidate,” Nellis said. “But I doubt this changes anybody’s vote in either the primary or the general election.”
Platner, however, said the turbulence had reinforced his campaign rather than damaged it. “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,” he told NBC News after a rally in Portland last month.
In a May interview with The New York Times, Platner described the tattoo and social media controversies as opposition research weaponized by the party establishment he had defeated. “I’ve talked about this ad nauseam,” he said of the tattoo. On the Reddit posts, he said: “I was really, really isolated and alone. Very angry. A lot of the worst comments come from the years where I was at my absolute worst.”
What Do Polls Show in the Maine Senate Race?
The most recent poll was conducted May 21-25 among 580 likely voters by the University of New Hampshire, but it was taken five days before Platner’s sexting controversy made headlines, meaning it’s not representative of voters’ views on his controversies as a whole.
That poll, released last week, showed Platner leading Collins by 9 percentage points, 51 to 42.
The UNH poll also found that Platner’s favorability among likely Democratic primary voters had not shifted despite months of damaging headlines regarding his tattoo and online content. Seventy-three percent viewed him favorably, yielding a net favorability rating of plus-59-virtually unchanged from plus-60 in February, before the tattoo, social media posts and sexting controversies became public.
What’s Next
Maine’s June 9 primary is days away.
- Voters have until polls close (typically 8 p.m.) on June 9 to vote either in person or by returning an absentee ballot.
- After Election Day, officials continue to count absentee and provisional ballots before finalizing the totals.
- Results are then certified, officially determining each party's nominees.
- Those nominees advance to the November 2026 general election ballot.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM.