People can change. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived it. Just when change occurs can generally only be grasped in retrospect. In the case of Senate hopeful Graham Platner of Maine, many Democrats are eager to see evidence that he is no longer the man associated with the drumbeat of bad revelations.
Platner’s campaign promise has long been that he’s just a normal guy who’s learned from his many mistakes—that he’s no longer a man who started online fights, scorned women, and otherwise got drunk and swore and argued excessively. But on the eve of Maine’s primary election next week, and in light of more reports of “reckless” and “disturbing” behavior, in the words of one ex-boyfriend, many voters may be wondering if the aspiring representative has changed enough.
Platner, a 41-year-old Marine Corps veteran, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins and platform of economic populism, universal health care, job protection, and anti-interventionism. Although he was raised on the coast of Maine by well-heeled parents who sent him to a prep school, he has portrayed himself as a tough man of the people: a military veteran (who served in Iraq and Afghanistan), an oyster farmer, and a family man. He launched his Senate campaign in the grassroots last year.
Democrats moved quickly to embrace Platner as the person the party needs to speak well to the working class—and especially white men. But revelations continue to emerge that test the party’s belief that he is pointing the way forward.
While on military leave in Croatia in 2007, Platner drunkenly inked a large tattoo of a skull and crossbones design associated with the Nazis. Platner said that he did not understand the meaning of the word a signwhich he covered in a different design last year. But a new report in New York Times undermined this dubious claim. Among the various ex-boyfriends interviewed, one recalled that Platner referred to the tattoo as “mine. Skull”—the German name for the Nazi emblem—and explained that he and other members of his military unit chose it because they saw themselves as killers like the Nazis. Schutzstaffelor the SS, who carried out the most brutal atrocities of the Third Reich. (Platner’s campaign has disputed the woman’s account.)
Platner also spent years posting racist, sexist, and homophobic messages from a personal Reddit account, including controversial rants about sexual harassment in the military. “Holy shit,” she wrote in a 2013 post about women who worry about being raped, “how can people take responsibility for themselves and not get upset and end up having sex with someone they didn’t mean to?” These posts, along with a 2020 video that showed Platner reminiscing about buying cocaine and using drugs in the military, led to the resignation of his campaign’s political director, Genevieve McDonald, in October.
Platner has said that his Reddit comments—published between 2009 and 2021—are nothing more than “playing on the internet” during a time in his life where he had battle wounds, trauma, and flight. “I don’t want you to judge me for the stupidest thing I’ve ever written on the internet,” he said he said last year after the opinion became known. “I would prefer if people judged me on the person I am today.”
But new revelations have emerged that challenge Platner’s claims that his crimes are behind him. Reports emerged Saturday that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, warned senior campaign staff last year that he was sending sex messages at least six different women on a private messaging platform Ch earlier in their marriage, which began in 2023. “Amy and I went through a difficult thing—because of me. We did the work, and I thank her every hour of every day,” Platner responded in a public statement Sunday. Rattled Democratic senators met with Platner this past week to ask if anything more sinister in his past might come to light. Platner assured them that there was no “reliable” accusations would be made.
According to Times‘ report, the ex-boyfriend accused her of frequent violent incidents – grabbing her shoulders so hard that they left marks, twisting her arm to push her into the bedroom, and locking the door so she couldn’t get out. “It hurt,” he said. But “it did not break my arm.” (His campaign told Times “vehemently contradicts” his account.) Many women said that Platner cheated during their relationship.
The problem with hiding damning details is that when they do come out, they easily reveal a willingness to lie, and invite suspicion that there might be more to the story. Platner’s denial of sexual abuse in the military—he once wrote that anyone who believes the military deliberately covers up rape is “stupid and small enough in rank or life experience to think it matters”—is more concerning considering Times‘ interviews with his ex-boyfriends, one of them recalled that Platner sometimes considered raping home invaders as a show of dominance. (Campaign officer, was asked by Times on that account, he did not dispute it.) That, along with his excessive need for sex, leads to some unstable and disturbing tendencies. Platner and his wife have dismissed public concerns about his past behavior and statements as mere gossip and dirty headlines, but there is good reason to see in this mess evidence of poor personal judgment and a sign of things to come.
Platner has always insisted that he has changed. Of course this is true: We are all growing and changing every day. He has also presented his past indolence as a kind of wealth, a symbol of originality. In this political moment, when it seems every flaw or shortcoming can be turned into evidence of truth—of true and flawed and accessible humanity—perhaps Platner is on to something. “People are complete and pure people who have had political office aspirations since they were on the high school student council and have lived every waking moment accordingly,” political reporter Ken Klippenstein wrote recently. a small post about Platner. But questions remain about how true Platner’s story is—the island where he farms oysters, for example, belongs to a wealthy family, and the oysters appear to be sold to a restaurant run by Platner’s mother, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Failure, mistakes and regrets it is fundamentally human—what is meant when a person is said to be “only human,” however, is that he should understand to some extent his faults. Change is also human. This idea is the basis of Platner’s sales pitch. “I made comments that I’m not happy with, that I don’t agree with, but they came from a time and place in my life, and when I read the comments made, I see myself changing,” Platner emphasized last year.
Platner today may not be the person he was before. Perhaps he now follows the principles of honesty, respect, and prudence. And it may be that Maine people are willing to put aside Platner’s past, even his recent life, because they like his policies, which prioritize the needs of ordinary Americans. But Graham Platner certainly owes potential voters a more detailed story about the ways in which he has changed, and assurances that the change is real—and permanent, this time.
