Free Republic

For Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, a person with a Nazi tattoo on their chest should be disqualified as a candidate for political office. But that tattoo, along with a series of other controversies that have dogged Senate candidate Graham Platner, has not been enough to dissuade most Democratic voters in Maine from supporting him. On Tuesday, Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran, won a decisive victory in the Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. He will now face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in this November's midterm elections. For many Democrats, the removal of Collins is the central...

Sen. John Fetterman and his possible future U.S. Senate colleague Graham Platner are both Democrats, but that’s not keeping them from trading profanity-laced barbs. During a town hall on Sunday, Platner — the frontrunner in Maine’s Democratic primary on Tuesday — was asked about forming relationships in the Senate if he were eventually elected. Platner chose to compare himself to Fetterman, who has frustrated Democrats with his constant criticism of the party, frequently on Fox News, and his support for President Donald Trump’s nominees and policies, such as the Iran war. “As you can all probably tell, I got a...

Some of Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ most ardent supporters are encouraging her to reactivate her suspended Senate campaign as fellow Democrat Graham Platner faces new allegations of “toxic” behavior toward three ex-girlfriends, which he has denied. But while the latest allegations about Platner’s past have jolted uneasy members of the party, that encouragement hasn’t amounted to an organized effort to promote her in Tuesday’s primary, according to conversations with more than a dozen Democrats in state and national politics. Former state Sen. Lynn Bromley told NBC News that she directly encouraged Mills, whose name remains on the ballot, to jump...

If Maine Democrats were already nervous, they should be in full panic mode now. Just days after Graham Platner sat down with Senate Democrats and told them straight to their faces that nothing new would come out about him, the New York Times dropped an investigative report that should be the end of his candidacy.The Times relied on more than two dozen sources, including six of Platner’s former romantic partners, whose stories are backed up by texts, social media messages, and diary entries. The picture that emerged was rather ugly: heavy drinking, serial infidelity, emotional abuse, and physical intimidation. Platner...

Four Senate Republicans broke ranks to kill another effort to pass President Donald Trump's marquee voter ID and election integrity legislation as the GOP marches to fund immigration enforcement. Just like last time, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tills, R-N.C., joined all Democrats to thwart the move. It’s the second attempt by Republicans to attach the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to their budget reconciliation package, and the second time that they’ve failed to get the legislation across the line months after launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the bill....

He has said he gets free health care and about $4,800 a month for a variety of injuries connected to his military service, including “a couple herniated discs,” injuries to his shoulders and knees, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s gotten a 100% disability rating from the VA, he said.

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said he would work with anyone who wanted to fight against President Donald Trump when asked about Democrat Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who’s embroiled in controversy amid allegations of adulterous behavior. Host Dana Bash said, “I want to ask you about the Senate race in Maine and The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reporting that last August, Democrat Grand Platinum’s wife told his campaign about sexual text messages....Do you have concerns about Grand Plattner?” Kim said, “Well, first I’ll say is, you know, I’ve been very...

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has a new problem, and this one is harder to delete.New original reporting by The Wall Street Journal published Friday has tied Platner to an active profile on Kik, a messaging platform with a long and well-documented history of child exploitation, and that law enforcement officials and online safety advocates have repeatedly flagged as a danger to minors.The account, listed under the username "phustle0331," featured a mirror selfie of a towel-clad man. It was linked to other online handles associated with Platner, and remained active as recently as this week.When pressed, Platner's campaign confirmed...

A "predator's paradise" May 31, 2026. by Daniel Greenfield. Let’s sum up. Graham Platner is not an ‘oyster farm’, not working class and was not forced to fight in Iraq. Or to put it another way, everything he says about himself is a lie. But well before all this, he did talk about being a Communist, got a Nazi tattoo and posted some nasty stuff. The campaign and its allies defended Platner as just posting things without really meaning them.

Democrat candidate for Maine U.S. Senate Graham Platner has had a long history of sexual deviancy unearthed over the course of his political campaign. It’s previously been revealed that Platner has engaged in bouts of masturbation in public restrooms, had phone sex on a network compromised by the Taliban, and cried over the closure of a Thailand prostitution tax-loophole. A recent report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that Platner has an account on an anonymous messaging platform known for playing host to countless sexual predators, Kik. Platner’s account, which goes by the username phustle0331, remains active today. His chosen...

Graham Platner is looking toward the general election in Maine’s Senate race. He’s the presumptive Democratic nominee to face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The Democrats believe they've found their candidate, an oyster farmer with Nazi tattoos who has a habit of masturbating in porta-potties and trolling on Reddit. It’s bad, and reportedly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Platner posted about how PTSD is a “bullshit” excuse for bad behavior, while telling another veteran who was shot multiple times that he didn’t deserve to live. That is something we should revisit, since in 2020, The Atlantic, which is...

In late April 2026, Maine Governor Janet Mills suspended her campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, effectively handing the race to Graham Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran and purported oyster farmer.Platner now stands as the presumptive Democrat nominee against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.The development itself is unremarkable in the rough-and-tumble of primary politics.What demands scrutiny is not the candidate’s past, but the cognitive mechanism by which that past has been processed, reframed, and ultimately laundered by his party. Platner acquired a prominent chest tattoo in 2007 while on leave in Croatia with fellow Marines. The image, a skull...

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is leading Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the race for her seat by 7 points, according to a new poll. In the Pan Atlantic Research poll, 48 percent of likely voters said they back Platner in a hypothetical matchup, while 41 percent said they support Collins. Eleven percent were undecided. When broken down by gender, 53 percent of women respondents backed Platner and 34 percent supported Collins. Men surveyed, meanwhile, said they support Collins over Platner, with 47 percent backing the incumbent and 44 percent supporting her potential challenger. The Democratic Party establishment was...

SNIP Exhibit A: Graham Platner, the Dems’ hard-left Senate candidate in Maine who cosplays a rugged working-class oyster farmer. He has been given the superstar treatment by the likes of the New York Times and Time in airbrushed cover stories praising him as a “rough-hewn, gravelly voiced … flawed everyman” whose numerous scandals — sporting a Nazi tattoo for 18 years, excusing rape, masturbating in porta-potties, mocking a Purple Heart recipient — are proof of his authenticity and “redemption arc.” SNIP Platner wears his hyper masculinity like a fat suit. It’s hiding something he doesn’t want us to see. Everything...

Portland Press Herald Maine official recommends transgender athlete referendum be invalidated Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien says that supporters fell roughly 500 valid signatures short of qualifying for the November ballot. May 21, 2026 Billy Kobin, Staff Writer A Maine official is recommending that a proposed referendum seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing in a way that aligns with their gender identity not appear on the November ballot. The rebuke Thursday came from Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien, the designated hearing officer in a case that has pitted supporters of the referendum against opponents. McBrien...

Seven years ago, Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner cruelly mocked an American soldier who was caught on camera taking fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan. The viral helmet footage showed how Pfc. Ted Daniels moved into the open as a diversion tactic to help his squad mates get to safety. But Platner saw him as a “dumb motherf—er” who “didn’t deserve to live.” “This video never gets old. Dumb mother—er didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt,” Platner, then a 34-year-old, chided...

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is already facing criticism over past Reddit posts, made graphic sexual comments on his now-deleted account about masturbating in portable toilets and explicit graffiti found in military restrooms. In one March 2017 post on Reddit’s r/Military forum, Platner responded to a discussion about nostalgic military smells by writing: "I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a portas----er… that blue water smell conditioned me." The archived posts were made under "P-Hustle," a now-deleted Reddit account that Platner previously acknowledged was his. In another post from March 2021 on Reddit’s r/USMC...

INTRODUCTION On April 29, 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders convened a 75-minute panel in the US Capitol on “the existential threat of AI.” Two of the four panelists were Chinese government affiliates: Zeng Yi, Dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, and Xue Lan, a Tsinghua University professor who chairs China’s national AI governance expert committee and serves as a Counsellor of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. From a US Senate platform, Xue called the US-China AI race “an inaccurate narrative” and argued for “safe zones” of cooperation on AI safety. The event was...

Authorities are investigating after a fiery explosion Friday at a lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine. Officials have not yet released the number of injuries or fatalities. Camden Fire & Rescue confirmed it has a crew providing assistance. "Our thoughts are with the injured, medical professionals providing care and first responders working to control the situation," the department wrote in a statement on Facebook. "We anticipate having personnel committed to helping for several days." Ben Hamel, the mill's purchasing manager, told the Bangor Daily News that the fire started in an area where wood shavings are packaged. The fire then spread...

If you want to know how far some liberals are willing to go to register their fear and loathing of President Trump, just read the recent opinion piece by Frank Bruni in the New York Times. (...) Platner has said he is a communist. He said cops are bastards. He called people who post online “retarded.” He said war was “the most enjoyable experience of my life.” Working as a bartender, he wondered “Why don’t black people tip?” And speaking about women who are concerned about sexual assault, he wrote that “Rape is a real thing. If you’re so worried...