Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s political director resigned on Friday amid backlash over Platner’s Reddit posts deriding white rural Americans, police officers, and people concerned about rape.
Platner’s remarks “were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate,” his political director, former state representative Genevieve McDonald, wrote in her resignation letter, obtained by the Bangor Daily News. “While I am empathetic to Graham’s experiences and respect his personal journey and growth, I cannot overlook the volume and nature of his past comments, many of which were made as an adult, not as a young man.”
Platner, who is running to challenge Republican senator Susan Collins in next year’s midterms, sparked scrutiny last week after some of his past Reddit posts emerged. Platner wrote that he “became a communist,” insisted that white people in rural America are “actually” racist and stupid, and referred to “all” police officers as bastards. He also claimed to keep guns in the house because he didn’t “trust the fascists to act politely.”
In another since-deleted Reddit post, Platner claimed that accusing him of watching CNN was worse than calling him a “retard.” The Senate hopeful also asked why black people “don’t tip” and suggested that people wearing “underwear designed to prevent sexual assault” should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up,” the Daily News reported.
After the first set of comments broke, Platner tried to downplay his internet trail. “That was very much me fucking around the internet,” he said in a Thursday statement to CNN. “I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really.” The Maine Democrat on Friday also posted a video on X apologizing for his remarks.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 17, 2025
Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin on Sunday condemned Platner’s posts as “indefensible,” “hurtful,” and “offensive”—though he also said the comments are not “disqualifying.”
Platner, who has received endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and other progressive politicians, also sparked controversy in September, when the Washington Free Beacon uncovered an op-ed he wrote after 9/11 in which he argued that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” and lamented that “every terrorist is portrayed as evil.”
