By John Loftus
Liberals are finally getting fed up with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and progressive populist with a long, scandalous history of caustic Reddit posts and a covered-up Nazi tattoo.
Platner pushed out centrist Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills in April and will likely face off against incumbent Republican Susan Collins, barring some wild turn of political events (Mills’ name will still be on the ballot for the state’s primary June 9). However, he has weathered a slew of scandals in recent months — many of which stem from re-surfaced Reddit posts, including one where he made excuses for sexual assault. Not to mention, his now-covered-up tattoo, which resembled a skull-and-crossbones emblem used by Nazi “Death’s Head” units. (RELATED: Nazi Tattoo Guy Graham Platner Bird-Dogged Over Public Masturbation Social Media Posts)
Most recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that he messaged and sexted women outside his marriage on a shady and anonymous social media site known as Kick. According to the report, Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, alerted his campaign last summer regarding sexually explicit messages he exchanged with multiple women. Gertner discovered the communications in the spring of 2025 and informed a campaign staffer in late August, shortly after Platner began his candidacy. Platner and Gertner married in 2023.
Having stomached all the previous scandals, some liberals are now beginning to question Platner’s candidacy in light of the reported sexting scandal.
PORTLAND, MAINE – MAY 17: U.S. Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner and his wife Amy Gertner share a moment after a campaign event at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6859 on May 17, 2026 in Portland, Maine. During the event, he received an endorsement from the Veterans for Responsible Leadership and hosted a veterans town hall to answer questions and discuss ending the war in Iran. Platner is expected to be the presumptive Democratic nominee and would face off against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for the Senate seat in the general election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The ladies of “The View” had a lot of negative things to say about Platner now that his sexting scandal has come to light.
“It is disturbing; it is horrible. Why can’t we do better? Why can’t we have better candidates?” co-host Ana Navarro complained Monday. “Why do we have to have Ken Paxton in Texas who has got baggage? It’s not even baggage; it’s steamer trunks of ethical questions around him.”
DEM CANDIDATE’S WIFE REPORTEDLY FLAGGED SEXUALLY EXPLICIT TEXTS: ‘The View’ co-hosts weigh in on the reported controversies coming from Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, which he denies. pic.twitter.com/JtCid0yvz1
— The View (@TheView) June 1, 2026
Co-host Sunny Hostin noted how important it is for Democrats to win Maine’s Senate seat, but also bashed Platner for making “racist remarks,” being an “anti-semite,” “a liar,” and a “homophobe.”
The sexting with other women while married is definitely true because his wife…disclosed it,” Hostin said. “Why would she lie about that? So, that part is true.”
She went on, arguing it was unbelievable that Platner could have had his Nazi “Death Head” tattoo for so long without knowing what it symbolized.
“He’s also made racist remarks against African Americans. So he’s a cheater, he’s an antisemite — because the fact that he had that tattoo for 20 years and ‘didn’t know what it was’ is a lie. So he’s a liar, a racist, an antisemite … he’s a homophobe. So, he’s all the things, and character does matter,” Hostin said.
Sara Haines argued that Platner “should be nowhere near Congress.”
Although he later issued a tepid walk-back, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss urged Maine Democrats to vote against Platner.
“I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” he recently told CNN. “I hope Maine voters agree with me. I think it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner’s brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country.”
Democratic New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker was not as blunt as Auchincloss, but suggested his patience was wearing thin thanks to the latest sexting scandal.
“Yeah, I have concerns. That guy has questions to answer and that’s what campaigns are for,” he told ABC News.
Meanwhile, Democratic strategists are beginning to worry that Platner could be a liability for Democrats, not just in the race against Collins but in the midterms more generally, Politico reported. (RELATED: The Democrats Trying To Come For Squishy Republican May Regret Their Nazi-Tattooed Candidate Choice)
“Up until now, the things that have come out, most Mainers have been pretty forgiving — enough to force out a sitting governor in a primary,” Chuck Rocha, a longtime Democratic strategist advising multiple Senate campaigns, told the outlet. “The thing that bothers me about Graham is every week it seems like it’s something else. … I worry because I have the scars of trying to beat Susan Collins for many cycles.”
During an appearance on CNN, Democratic strategist Yemisi Egbewole argued on CNN that the party’s embrace of Platner as a working class politician was a mistake and an insult to blue-collar Americans.
Democrat Strategist Yemisi Egbewole TORCHES Graham Platner:
“We have lost the plot on authenticity. To think Graham Platner is cosplaying working class. He wears it like a Halloween costume, and that has been placed on him by the same people who have run a lot of progressive… pic.twitter.com/C4Rrq3wnIO
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 2, 2026
“We have lost the plot on authenticity,” she said. “To think Graham Platner is cosplaying working class. He wears it like a Halloween costume, and that has been placed on him by the same people who have run a lot of progressive candidates across the nation. In this pursuit of getting to know the everyman, we keep picking these people who I think show the worst parts of society.”
