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Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s scandal-plagued rise is causing rifts within the Democratic Party, and several Democratic strategists who spoke to Digital warned of the long-term implications of the party embracing him.
“Anyone paying attention to the intersection of culture and politics knows that my party pushed #MeToo well beyond the bounds of common sense long before Graham Platner’s rise,” Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, said about whether the #MeToo movement rings hollow within the party now that top Democrats have rallied behind Platner.
“But the reflexive partisan instinct to circle the wagons around him is the political equivalent of pulling the plug on whatever credibility Democrats had left as the self-appointed champions of women.”
“If the standards disappear the moment they’re politically inconvenient, they were never standards at all.”
JONATHAN TURLEY: WHEN JOURNALISTS WHINE ABOUT #METOO, THEY DON’T MEAN PLATNER, TOO
Graham Platner, Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, speaks at a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. Platner won the party’s Senate primary after a campaign marked by accusations of past misbehavior and voter concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former adviser to President Bill Clinton and Democratic strategist Doug Schoen argued that Democrats are choosing power and Senate control over serious concerns about Platner’s past, and that could hurt them in 2028.
“In the short term, for some Democrats, those on the progressive left, it’s the right decision, a practical decision,” Schoen said. “To me, it’s a very sad one and certainly undermines the moral legitimacy of the Democratic Party as a whole.”
“Certainly, I think they’ve left themselves vulnerable vis-à-vis Platner’s extreme left-wing positions, his toxicity as a person, the issues with relationships, arguably lying about his Nazi tattoo,” Schoen said. “I certainly think this creates issues for the Democrats where none needed to exist.”
Platner has denied allegations from former girlfriends who told The New York Times that he discussed rape fantasies, drank heavily and had violent episodes, while also facing mounting criticism over sexually explicit messages allegedly sent to women shortly after getting married, a Nazi-linked tattoo and online comments mocking a Purple Heart veteran.
Despite new controversies emerging days before Maine’s Democratic Senate primary, Graham Platner won with more primary votes than any Democrat in state history.
Democratic strategist Mally Smith told Digital he doesn’t believe that the Platner campaign is necessarily the “death” of the #MeToo movement, but that Democrats who have “more fully embraced” his campaign are “going to have some trouble when it comes to making the case on the Epstein files or any general claims of believe all women.”
“So maybe Democrats don’t have the advantage on the issue anymore, but I would say that it’s not like Republicans have an advantage either,” Smith added. “I think voters are just gonna say, well, both parties are willing to live with the baggage of their candidates.”
Looking ahead to 2028, LaRosa said that Democrats could be haunted by their ties to Platner for years.
“If he wins, you’ll still have to explain why you stood with him,” LaRosa said. “If he loses, you’ll have nothing to show for it except the association. Either way, he’s someone you’ll be answering for.”
Smith explained Platner’s rise by citing voters that are “unhappy with the status quo” to the point where there’s an “element, whether it’s Republican voters supporting President Donald Trump or Democratic voters supporting Graham Platner in Maine, where they say these elites attacking him is actually evidence that he’s on the right track.”
For others, the controversies are still too big for voters to ignore. LaRosa said that voters “reward guts, not willful blindness” when judging a candidate with Nazi imagery tattooed on his chest, adding that the Democratic leaders are lacking that same “courage.”
DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH SCANDAL-PLAGUED GRAHAM PLATNER, WARN OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ IN PARTY
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner stood together during a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“We look pretty vapid, unprincipled and hypocritical to look the other way when it comes to any candidate accused of any level of violence against women just because it is politically inconvenient,” LaRosa said. “Never again should voters trust us or take our moral arguments seriously. Principles only mean something when they’re applied across the board, even when it’s politically uncomfortable.”
For over a decade, Democrats have used the “Nazi” attack line against President Donald Trump, but have nevertheless mostly rallied around Platner, despite the Nazi imagery tattooed on his body for 18 years.
“They’re seeing all of these lunatics, like the guy in Maine…for ten years they’ve been calling me a ‘Nazi,’ and now they have a Nazi running. He’s got a tattoo on him,” President Trump said during a Thursday news conference.
Schoen argued Democrats have now weakened their case against Republican scandals, pointing to Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
“For every criticism that they level at Ken Paxton in Texas, they will be greeted by criticism of Graham Platner in Maine, which to me makes their job more difficult,” Schoen said.
Smith made a similar point, saying both parties are dealing with candidates causing “their own version of heartburn” that can be used against them politically.
Trump-backed Paxton prevailed in the primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, after he was impeached by the Texas House, a federal investigation into allegations that he abused his office to aid a donor and cheating allegations.
LaRosa said the “uncomfortable truth” is that Democrats have reduced Platner to a simple political equation, viewing him as “just another number, another vote, another seat, another data point on a spreadsheet” instead of focusing on whether he is the right person for the job.
PLATNER CONTROVERSIES FUEL SPECULATION ABOUT LITTLE-KNOWN MAINE BALLOT REPLACEMENT PROVISION
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a runoff election night event in Plano, Texas, on May 26, 2026. (Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
November may provide a clearer test, Schoen said. He said Platner’s victory does not mean he shed his political baggage, adding Platner has left the party to grapple with problems “where none needed to exist.”
“With Graham Platner, there are literally immediate, multiple sources of concern that are ongoing, and it isn’t clear to me that he will necessarily survive and succeed,” Schoen said.
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Ultimately, Smith said that Maine voters will be focused on the economy and that concerns about Platner will likely only be a major issue within the state rather than nationwide.
“Voters are unhappy with the economy, and I think most people are going to be voting on whether they believe the economy is better than when Trump was inaugurated, and the answer to that is a resounding no,” Smith said. “So I think as much as news stations like to talk about Graham Platner and what this means for Democrats overall, or vice versa, Ken Paxton and Republicans overall, most voters are not going to think about Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo outside of Maine. So I think this is more of a localized Maine problem.”
Digital reached out to the Platner campaign for comment.
