# Are there any reasons to reject Graham Platner in Maine (campaign suspended July 8, 2026) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 4, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179 "2026-03-04T03:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 52
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1023 "2026-06-08T17:36:04Z")
The thing that disturbs me the most is Platner’s response to the allegations. He isn’t apologizing for them, or even denying them. Rather, his defense is, “I’m being opposed by corporate interests and the powers that be, and that’s why they’re saying these things.” It’s like a poisoning the well and ad hominem fallacy mixed into one. By that logic, a candidate could murder someone, and then when his political opponents bring up the murder, he says “I’m being opposed by evil corporate powers-that-be.” ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1024 "2026-06-08T17:55:00Z")
**Moderating:** > [@Stanislaus](#): > > I mean, my opening topic sentence was: America is not a serious country. So yes. It seems we are in furious agreement on this. And it’s also a growing hijack in _this_ thread. Please feel free to comment on Platner being an unserious candidate, or how you find prominent politicians support unconvincing, but please take the premise that America is not a serious Country to another thread, or create one of your own in P&E or in the Pit depending on how polite you want to be. It’s an absolutely fair discussion, but too general for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1025 "2026-06-08T18:14:27Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I believe that reducing the chance of continued GOP Senate control is very serious, critical in the fight at a near existential level. Then why would you endanger that by supporting Platner? Again: If Platner or Collins wins, we lose that Senate seat, because the evidence, such as it is, is that Platner will, like Collins, vote in ways to continue dismantling our democracy. If Platner wins, then we also lose other Senate seats, because running an obvious Nazi will sway a lot of low-information voters, in all states, against the Democratic party as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1026 "2026-06-08T18:20:14Z")
You’re guessing. Platner may turn out to be a reliable Democratic vote. There’s no way you could possibly know for sure one way or the other. Collins, on the other hand, has years of reliable Republican and Trump support behind her. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1027 "2026-06-08T18:30:26Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Everyone knows the story about keeping the Nazis out the bar, yes? Just 'cos its one quiet guy and the symbol is discrete you don’t give it a pass, you rigorously enforce the boundary because if it’s breached it gets harder and harder to redraw the line. What do you think is happening to that line here? What I think is that the bar is already full of fascists. I’m also not at all convinced that Platner is a Nazi. I’m not 100% convinced that he’s not some flavor or other of totalitarian, but I’m nowhere near convinced that he is, either. Not everyone who’s an asshole in their 20’s is still an asshole in their 40’s. And we know how Collins votes and who she caucuses with, whatever she tells herself to get to sleep at night. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > A much more cogent and immediate reason to vote for him, at least in November presuming that he does win the primary, is that it may well decide who controls the Senate for the next two years. Which may be crucial to a whole lot of lives. > > > > And which has been pointed out over and over in this thread. > > _If_ you trust Platner to reliably advance Democratic interests and not throw a wrench in the gears like a Sinema, Fetterman, or Manchin. His conduct to date doesn’t inspire a high degree of trust, as has been pointed out over and over in this thread. Control of the Senate has nothing to do with how someone votes. It has to do entirely with who they caucus with. Platner will reliably advance Democratic interests just by holding the seat, if he’s the 51st Democrat; and he might well be. Better yet if he votes as he currently talks; but that’s not the crucial point, as you still seem to be missing. I think it’s quite unlikely that Platner’s immediately going to jump ship and caucus with the Republicans. We know who Collins caucuses with. If she were going to change parties, she’d have done it by now. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > do you feel that Platner’s likely success in the upcoming primary reflects a party and a polity with robust candidate selection systems, and if not how should this affect outsider’s view of America’s chances of fighting off the fascist cancer currently eating its way through its institutions? If what you’re saying is that USA politics are royally (OK, I’m going to leave that term in there, it’s in some ways appropriate) screwed up and that we may not make it through this — I agree with you there. Sometimes in a screwed up situation there are no good choices. Sometimes there is however a less bad choice, and a worse one. It’s my opinion based on the current evidence that electing a Republican is the worse choice here. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > grassroots enforcement of basic standards of candidate selection. What would that even mean? Grassroots don’t have “standards of candidate selection”. Grassroots select who they damn please. Grassroots selected Trump, the first time. In 2016 the party insiders didn’t want him. The parties stopped picking candidates because of grassroots rebellion against having party insiders choose who the general population got the chance to vote for. We’re now seeing — even more in the Republican party than in the Democratic party — the downsides of that choice. But it happened because the downsides of having the party apparatus pick the candidates were all too clear: only a handful of people got any real say. I don’t know a good way out of that problem. It’s not just a problem with the USA. It’s a problem with the whole damn species. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1028 "2026-06-08T18:33:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The thing that disturbs me the most is Platner’s response to the allegations. He isn’t apologizing for them, or even denying them. Rather, his defense is, “I’m being opposed by corporate interests and the powers that be, and that’s why they’re saying these things.” It’s like a poisoning the well and ad hominem fallacy mixed into one. Have to call BS on this one. Listen to the Pod Save America, the [NY Times podcast](https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000010907028/graham-platner-on-his-controversies-contradictions-and-plans-for-radical-change.html?smid=url-share) or town halls that are easily found on YouTube. Platner covers the abuse [allegations](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/graham-platner-maine-senate-former-girlfriends.html?searchResultPosition=2), and in one extremely visceral piece on the NY Times interview he initially responds as a macho man downplaying the origins of his PTSD, and then stops, [has a flashback and very painfully narrates the incident.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-YFZ1mzG6Kw) You may be hearing only cherry picked and very selective quotes or sound bites where he does indeed go after corporate vested interests, the billionaire class, the Epstein class and standing up for working class needs that matter to Maine voters such as not closing rural hospitals. Enquiring minds can disagree, but in parallel with this debate, there _is_ a textbook swift boating opposition campaign on-going. Likewise, a swift boat operation against James Talarico is also going. Talarico is a Presbyterian seminarian, and the attack line there is he is a closet vegan and has a make-believe girlfriend (eg, he’s gay). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1029 "2026-06-08T18:38:34Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Have to call BS on this one. Listen to the Pod Save America, the [NY Times podcast](https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000010907028/graham-platner-on-his-controversies-contradictions-and-plans-for-radical-change.html?smid=url-share) or town halls that are easily found on YouTube. Platner covers the abuse [allegations](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/graham-platner-maine-senate-former-girlfriends.html?searchResultPosition=2), and in one extremely visceral piece on the NY Times interview he initially responds as a macho man downplaying the origins of his PTSD, and then stops, [has a flashback and very painfully narrates the incident.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-YFZ1mzG6Kw) Yeah–my social media feed has been showing me clips of Platner actually talking, and I can see his appeal in his actual words and positions. I’ve seen some real con artist politicians, and he doesn’t come across that way at all to me. Maybe I’m being fooled, but I don’t think so. I think he’s just got a real dumbass streak sometimes, not that he’s insincere. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1030 "2026-06-08T18:59:32Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Again, this doesn’t mean jack. Just as easily can be explained by him being ignorant that some people might think there is a link to a Nazi tattoo, then getting vetted with spotlight scrutiny as one starting a candidacy for Senate It is also not cheap to cover those up. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > There _is_ evidence he holds Nazi beliefs - _he’s got a Nazi tattoo_! No longer- he had it removed. But all his buddies picked the same tat. Are they all nazis? Is that Tattoo parlor a secret Nazi base? Or did they pick that tat as the skull and crossbones motif was being used widely by the Marines there? Given young drunk marines in a combat area, I am gonna bet on the latter. > [@DSeid](#): > > Hope all you want that Mills will somehow win the primary despite no longer running and having been way behind last polled, with huge unfavorable ratings, the choice is going to be Platner or Collins. Do you believe that Collins, with all that comes with her in terms of SCOTUS picks, Trump agenda, and more, is better? Yeah, that’s the point here. > [@DSeid](#): > > I feel that not re-electing Collins, who will continue to be a good soldier on the side of fascism, as she has consistently proven herself to be, is a very serious issue. I believe that someone whose actions have resulted in a SCOTUS that has enabled massive evil must be replaced. I believe that reducing the chance of continued GOP Senate control is very serious, critical in the fight at a near existential level. > > You think a tattoo is a more serious issue than that. That’s your decision to make. Exactly. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > But it’s not only a tattoo anymore. Additional allegations have come out. These won’t be the last, and most likely they won’t be the worst, either. Yes, because the GOP is running scared and they are swiftboating him. Remember the worst accusation against him, the one posters keep harping on- is from a MAGA operative. I generally disbelieve anything a MAGA says to start. And so had many posters here, until this one republican came out with accusations- suddenly they believe a Republican who is clearly trying to make sure a Dem candidate loses. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1031 "2026-06-08T19:15:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Then why would you endanger that by supporting Platner? Because I don’t own a time machine and cannot travel back to last year and convince Chuck Schumer to endorse a different candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1032 "2026-06-08T19:26:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Is that Tattoo parlor a secret Nazi base? Yes, probably. Do you know anything about the Nazi issues in Croatia? It’s not exactly far-fetched to think so. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1033 "2026-06-08T21:43:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No longer- he had it removed. But all his buddies picked the same tat. Are they all nazis? Is that Tattoo parlor a secret Nazi base? There aren’t many tattoo parlors that just do a couple of Nazi designs on request. Tattoo artists get a lot of such requests, so they learn fairly quickly what they are, and they have to decide whether that’s the kind of clientele they want to serve. If you’ve walked by or into a Nazi-friendly tattoo shop, there’s no mistaking where you are. It’s never just one little _totenkopf_. Legit shops don’t do them because they don’t want that kind of traffic. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1034 "2026-06-09T00:24:24Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > The parties stopped picking candidates because of grassroots rebellion against having party insiders choose who the general population got the chance to vote for. We’re now seeing — even more in the Republican party than in the Democratic party — the downsides of that choice This is more about the sexting and the domestic violence allegations but there’s no rule against negative campaigning and opposition research in the primaries. One of the biggest benefits parties get out of primaries is that candidates flaws come out and we see who can survive an adversarial challenge. Thd latest stuff is coming out so late, not to mention the only other real candidate already suspended her campaign and there is no one else with even a chance to capitalize in the primary. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1035 "2026-06-09T01:02:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > running an obvious Nazi will sway a lot of low-information voters, in all states I get that this seems true to you, but accept the fact that his polling in Maine did _not_ crater or drop at all after the tattoo bit came out: it solidified and that was when Mills dropped out. I doubt most voters in Maine want to support someone they consider an obvious Nazi and many are low information voters. They just did not come to the same conclusion you have. In other states? Even more so. They will be voting against or for Trump and based on the specific candidate and issues in their local races. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > the only candidate who can win over voters is ruffntuff hurlyburly mansman My sense of it is that he was not supported based on his being hurly burly but on being not establishment and of the major change mode. That said there _is_ something to be said to having some representation of the under represented fairly ignored group of the working class man. They can _also_ win elections, and also have a place in the Democratic tent. Think of him as a DEI move. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1036 "2026-06-09T01:48:06Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I get that this seems true to you, but accept the fact that his polling in Maine did _not_ crater or drop at all after the tattoo bit came out: it solidified and that was when Mills dropped out. I doubt most voters in Maine want to support someone they consider an obvious Nazi and many are low information voters. They just did not come to the same conclusion you have. Right, because contrary to what some are saying here, the Republican noise machine has not yet started up on him. They want him to win the primary. And as soon as the primary’s over, they can start flooding the information-waves with how the Democrats are the party that’s running an open Nazi. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1037 "2026-06-09T01:59:32Z")
God, I wish the mods would close this thread. It’s the same half dozen posters who are sure they are right just repeating themselves for a thousand posts. And you know that none of them will ever admit if they are wrong if Platner wins and proves them wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1038 "2026-06-09T02:03:13Z")
The naysayers here are barely even complaining about the real Graham Platner at this point. Instead you’ve all been complaining about a strawman version of Platner that you’ve invented out of a combination of innuendos, rumors, and wild speculation There is, simply put, zero evidence that Platner is; - An open Nazi - A secret Nazi - Going to switch parties once elected - A serial abuser - A pedophile - A kidnapper - A white supremacist - A Manchin/Fetterman/Sinema type - A pathological liar Or just about any of the other things that you keep repeating over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1039 "2026-06-09T02:33:48Z")
Then how did he know that he should hide his _Totenkopf_ in his profile picture when he was trawling for sexting partners on Kik? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1040 "2026-06-09T02:37:51Z")
It’s an assumption on your part that he was “hiding” anything to begin with. It’s a bathroom mirror selfie - SOME part of his chest is going to be obscured by his phone and he’s holding it in a natural position with his dominant hand. Do you suppose he held his hand in front of his chest every time he had sex with his wife, or is she a secret Nazi too? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1041 "2026-06-09T02:52:34Z")
On the other hand, Platner does call out more than just this short list: 1. Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza 2. Is for the working class, and IMHO correctly opens the tent to anyone that works for a living be it a grocery store wage slave or a high tech dude that also might lose his house when AI takes his job (full disclosure, I was laid off a year ago at Microsoft after 19 years owing to AI. I don’t expect much sympathy from a grocery store wage slave, but I go from being top 10% tax paying income earners to unemployed). 3. Calls out the billionaire class and the Epstein class as being bad for democracy and for the working class. 4. Beholden interests that pay lip service but are bad for the working class 5. Has listed out policies he supports or would try to enact to help working class Mainer’s 6. Actually served multiple tours of combat in Iraq, and more limited role in Afganistan. 7. Dunno about you, but IMHO here’s [Platner talking about his PTSD](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-YFZ1mzG6Kw). Who would you rather have making war fighting decisions? Platner vs Collins Vs God is a white man pistol Pete Hegseth Vs President Bone Spurs? Again, this is a board fighting ignorance. Pretty thin on cites “proving” that Platner is as @Smapti pointed out above. I remember the promise of the interwebs is that enquiring minds would actually go view the source material and then make up minds based on fact and not the standard swift boating playbook. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1042 "2026-06-09T02:58:08Z")
Wow, the Nazi tattoo guy is very concerned about the pretendicide, billionaires, and the Epstein class? Great. I’m sure he has opinions on lots of other important issues like usury, the kidnapping of Christian babies to drain their blood, and the injustice of circumcision. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179.md?page=53)