Politics
NEW: Top Staffer Abandons Dem ‘Rising Star’ Over Recent Scandals
A former state lawmaker who had been working as the political director for Bernie Sanders-backed Graham Platner, a “rising star” on the progressive left and candidate for U.S. Senate, over a number of emerging scandals surrounding his campaign.
A number of social media posts in which Platner, a U.S. Marine and Army veteran who is seeking to unseat longtime Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), posted on the far-left social media platform Reddit in 2018 that “all” police are bastards and called himself a “communist.”
In a separate post, the progressive Senate hopeful stated that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.” In another comment, he said “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”
The posts, which were first reported on by CNN and Politico, were deleted shortly before Platner announced his Senate campaign back in August. Platner — an oyster farmer who progressives hope can help win back male and working class voters who have moved away from the Democratic Party in recent years — has attempted to apologize for his posts by claiming they were made during a dark period of his life.
He also joked about sexual assault, which appeared to be a bridge too far for one of his senior staffers. “How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so (expletive) up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to,” Platner said in one of his comments.
Platner is running against current Maine Governor Janet Mills, the preferred candidate of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Genevieve McDonald, a former state lawmaker who had been working as the campaign’s political director, announced shortly after those messages were unearthed that she would be resigning from the campaign effective immediately.
“These statements were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate for the United States Senate,” McDonald said in her resignation letter.
While speaking with the Bangor Daily News, McDonald addressed another scandal involving one of Platner’s tattoos that is associated with Neo-Nazi ideology. McDonald told the outlet that the campaign had been aware of the tattoo since she joined the campaign in August, adding that Platner himself conceded it could prove “problematic.”
The campaign denied the former director’s claims, calling it “a lie from a disgruntled former employee.” In a statement, Platner said he didn’t know until last week that his tattoo had a Nazi affiliation in any way.
Democratic Party infighting surrounding Platner’s campaign reached a fever pitch on Wednesday, when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took aim at the progressive candidate’s main backer in Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “We think that Janet Mills is the best candidate to retire Susan Collins,” Schumer said at a press conference. “She’s a tested two-term governor and the people of Maine have an enormous amount of affection and respect for her,” he said.
Mills and Platner are both vying for the Democratic Party nominee in a race Democrats will almost certainly need to win if they have any chance of regaining control of the Senate in 2026. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) is the only Republican senator up for re-election in a state carried by former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
