Radical leftist Graham Platner easily seized the Democrat nomination for the U.S.Senate in Maine on Tuesday, despite a semi-truckload of scandal baggage.
It began last year with the revelation that Platner had a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and it was not a swastika – it was a "Totenkopf," the symbol of the S.S.troops that guarded the death camps in the Holocaust.The broadcast networks avoided the subject of Platner and his tattoo for months.
On April 22, a National Public Radio story skipped over it.So much for the show being titled "All Things Considered." Steve Mistler of Maine Public Radio reported: "Platner's well-documented controversies — including past offensive social media posts about sexual assault, rural white voters and the tipping habits of black people — haven't scared off high-profile endorsements," like those of Massachusetts Democrat Sen.
Elizabeth Warren and others.Platner was painted as having populist momentum.The TV networks arrived when a new scandal emerged on May 31: Platner had engaged in sexting with a number of women while he was newly married.
We learned this because his embarrassed wife Amy warned campaign officials that it might become a problem, and someone leaked it to The Wall Street Journal.The network Sunday hosts asked Democrats questions that were comically open-ended.On CBS, Margaret Brennan tried: "Does he pass the character test?" No.
NBC's Kristen Welker threw one softly: "Does Graham Platner pose a headache for Democrats?" Duh.ABC's Jonathan Karl worried for his party: "Do you have concerns with the weight of all these controversies that it may jeopardize Democratic hopes to get that Senate seat in Maine?"WATCH: MAINE VOTERS DIVIDED ON PLATNER AS SCANDALS SHADOW DEMOCRATIC PRIMARYSen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Maine Democratic U.S.Senate candidate Graham Platner stood together during a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Ma...