Graham Platner, whose Maine Senate run has concerned Jews, becomes presumptive Democratic nominee
Chuck Schumer has signaled support for Platner, whose background includes a Nazi tattoo and Jewish extended family
U.S. senatorial candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine. Platner, a veteran of the U.S. Marines and an oyster farmer, is running for the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images
(JTA) — Graham Platner, the oyster farmer and political neophyte whose past Nazi tattoo and current anti-Israel rhetoric have caused concern among some Jewish groups, has effectively clinched the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine after his primary opponent Janet Mills suspended her campaign Thursday.
A key Jewish Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said in a statement that he would support Platner’s bid to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. Schumer had initially recruited Mills to run.
“After years of allowing Trump’s abuses of power, Senator Collins has never been more vulnerable and we will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat her,” Schumer said in a joint statement with fellow New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who runs Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.
Mills, the state’s current governor, did not endorse or even name Platner in her concession statement. Instead, she cited a lack of campaign funds.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” she wrote.
In a statement, Platner said “we are all eternally grateful” to Mills, and that “I look forward to working with her” to defeat Collins. He concluded with a call to arms: “We’re taking back what’s ours.”
Mills was seen as the “establishment” choice for a seat viewed by Democrats as a must-win — one who would come without Platner’s baggage, including on Jewish issues, at a time when the Democratic Party is fending off criticisms of antisemitism slipping in through its left flank. Though she faced criticism for her age, her campaign aimed to blunt the insurgent rise of Platner, a military veteran and outspoken left-wing populist.
Yet even after Platner’s campaign was dogged last year by revelations of his 17-year-old tattoo of the Nazi-affiliated Totenkopf skull-and-crossbones logo, along with reports of derogatory comments toward various groups he had made on Reddit, he refused to drop out. Mills, despite a negative ad blitz against Platner, failed to capitalize on any momentum from his scandals. (Platner has covered up his tattoo, claiming he didn’t know about its Nazi links, and said he’s matured since his past comments; his Reddit comments had reportedly included tactical praise of a 2014 Hamas attack.)
Platner also has Jewish extended family, including a stepbrother in Israel, and recently hosted a Passover seder in Maine with his campaign. He discussed rising antisemitism at the seder, which he also filmed for a campaign video. Steven Koltai, a state leader of liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street, is a key Jewish Platner supporter.
The candidate told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last month that his familial connections to Israel helped inform his own views on the region — which include his conclusion that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and his push to end military aid to the country.
Asked then how he intends to win over Jewish Mainers, Platner said his campaign “is going to include connecting with the Jewish community, going to go into synagogues. Luckily for me, I’ve grown up with very close and involved Jewish friends in Maine.” He added, “Just like any other community in the state, in my opinion, the way that you engage with people is by engaging with them, being in a space with them, hearing their concerns and fielding questions.”
Even so, Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, and Maine’s sole Jewish federation have expressed concern about Platner’s candidacy, citing his tattoo and past comments.
The day before Mills dropped out, Platner appeared on Jewish comedian Jon Stewart’s podcast. Stewart came away impressed, telling his co-hosts, “After you talk to him, it’s kind of astonishing that the whole story is, like, ‘f–ked-up tattoo guy.’ And you’re like, oh, I think we may have buried the lead on this one.”
Collins has already linked Platner’s tattoo to Schumer as a wedge in her campaign.
“Chuck is trying to cover up their bad ideas by attacking others,” the senator said at her state GOP convention earlier this week, referencing negative Democratic-backed ads already running against her. “But many people see through that. You know, when I think about it, his approach is like trying to cover up an outrageous tattoo. You can paint over it, but we all know what’s underneath.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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