Graham Platner, an outspoken critic of Israel, has clinched the Democratic nomination in Maine’s Senate primary, US media projected on Tuesday, setting up a high-stakes general election matchup against longtime incumbent Republican US Senator Susan Collins.
Platner's campaign relied heavily on aggressive rhetoric targeting Israel and its American supporters, transforming attacks on the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC into a central pillar of his primary strategy.
He further inflamed the debate by publicly branding Israel’s counter-terrorism operations in Gaza as a genocide.
Beyond his virulent anti-Israel platform, the Sullivan oyster farmer and former local planning board chairman has drawn sizable crowds while carrying a baggage-laden past that Republicans are poised to exploit. Chief among his scandals is the revelation that he spent nearly two decades with a Nazi Totenkopf symbol tattooed on his chest, alongside facing separate allegations of personal abuse.
Platner addressed the fascist imagery last October, admitting to having the tattoo for roughly twenty years. He rejected any personal alignment with Nazi ideology, asserting that he received the body art while "inebriated" as a young adult and without understanding its historical context. At the time, he did not explain why the symbol remained on his body for so long.
He subsequently altered the marking, stating that he ultimately decided to overlay the Nazi symbol with an entirely new design. Platner defended the decision by claiming that while his initial goal was total surgical removal, he opted for a cover-up design due to a scarcity of advanced tattoo removal facilities near his residence in rural Maine.