Senate Democrats avoid talking about scandal-plagued progressive candidate

WASHINGTON — Most Senate Democrats are giving a wide berth to Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine as the first-time progressive candidate fights for his political survival amid controversy over his past racist and anti-LGBTQ comments online and a tattoo of Nazi imagery he covered up this week.

“What I’ve seen so far worries me,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said Thursday of Platner, before making clear that he did not plan to get involved in the race.

When asked if she saw herself supporting Platner’s campaign, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) shook her head. Baldwin, the first lesbian elected to the Senate, declined to say anything more.

Other rank-and-file Democrats said they would not participate in the primary. Top Senate progressives have also refused to endorse Platner. The only progressive to have endorsed Platner is independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“I personally think he’s an excellent candidate. I’m going to support him and hope he becomes the next senator from the state of Maine,” Sanders told reporters this week.

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership is backing Gov. Janet Mills, the state’s two-term governor who, at 77, is widely considered the establishment candidate in the race. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), in an unusual move this week, publicly announced his support for Mills despite remaining neutral in all other Senate primaries across the country. He called her “proven” and the best option to unseat five-term incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

His hesitation comes as two polls show Platner with a big lead over Mills among Democratic primary voters, reflecting Platner’s rapid rise from unknown military veteran to progressive hero. Polls show that any establishment effort to return Platner to earth may not be equally quick.

A survey of the University of New Hampshire found Platner with a 58% to 24% lead over Mills, while one of the National Republican Senatorial Committee it gave Platner a 46% to 25% lead. Both polls are notable, considering Mills has served in the state’s highest office for nearly eight years, while Platner was an unknown in early August.

Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer, was active on Reddit forums after serving four tours as a Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan. he did all kinds of inflammatory commentsdismissing concerns about sexual assault in the military, using homophobic slurs, disparaging rural Americans, and calling all police officers “bastards,” among other things. He has since apologized for his “abhorrent” words and said he no longer agrees with them.

“It’s important to know that this was a time in my life where I was deeply struggling,” Platner explained afterward. apologizing earlier this week. “I got out of the military in 2012. I had PTSD, I had depression, I had all the things that come with serving in a war (two wars) that I eventually started not believing in at all. It left me feeling very unmoored. It left me very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated.”

On Wednesday, Platner’s campaign addressed another controversy by announcing that he had gotten a tattoo of a skull and crossbones on his chest. covered stop reflecting an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. He explained that he had received it when he was 20 while in the Marine Corps after a night of drinking in Croatia.

All the revelations about Platner’s background led one of his main rivals to ask him to withdraw from the race. Jordan Wood, a former staffer for Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), called Platner’s comments and tattoo “disqualifying.”

“With Donald Trump and his sycophants demonizing Americans, spewing hate, and trampling on the Constitution, Democrats must be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity. Graham Platner no longer can,” Wood said in a statement.

Sophie Park via Getty Images

But the negative coverage of Platner’s story didn’t seem to affect his supporters, 600 of whom packed a town hall in Ogunquit, Maine, on Thursday to hear the candidate speak.

“The establishment is scared,” Platner said at the event. “If they thought that destroying my life, trying to destroy it, would make me think I shouldn’t take on this project, they clearly haven’t spent much time in the Marines.”

Some Democrats said they sympathized with Platner’s struggles even as they refrained from endorsing him in the race, preferring to wait and see how the primary plays out.

“As someone who probably had the same experience as him, I hope he got the therapy he needs. He said those things when he was young, so I hope he’s overcome that,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), another Navy veteran who battled PTSD, told News themezone.

“Everyone has the right to grow up and overcome their stupidity, essentially. And I think voters should take the opportunity to evaluate that,” he added.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who served in the Marine Reserves during the Vietnam War era, praised Mills’ record and said he has a “clear path” to challenge Collins, a top Democratic target next year. But he said the decision was ultimately up to Maine voters.

“I was asked this morning if Janet Mills is a risky candidate because of her age,” Blumenthal said Thursday. “You know, there is never a sure victory in American elections, so anyone who participates in an elective race runs the risk of losing, but they are both viable candidates.”