Voters overwhelmingly ditch the Maine Democrat after being read his social media posts, poll finds
Senate candidate Graham Platner, who called people “fags” on Reddit, is now accusing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of “toxic masculinity” in a sharp turn from the Maine Democrat’s social media history. A poll published Wednesday suggests Platner’s political future depends on convincing voters he’s a changed man.
An EMILYs List survey that Politico published shows that Platner trails Sen. Susan Collins (R.) in a hypothetical matchup by 19 points after voters read his social media posts, which include calling himself a “communist,” denigrating police as “bastards,” labeling rural white Mainers as “stupid” and “racist.” The gap only closes by 5 points when voters are provided with Platner’s apology.
Platner’s efforts to paint himself as a pro-LGBT warrior and a foil to Hegseth’s “toxic masculinity” were on full display during a Tuesday evening veterans’ roundtable attended virtually by the Washington Free Beacon.
“Something that I think that is just beyond infuriating at this point is watching the Trump administration, watching Pete Hegseth, who was essentially like a walking avatar of male insecurity just use militarism, use war as this kind of way of displaying the toxic masculinity that they embody, or that they at least look up to,” Platner said. “And so much of this ire has been directed at LGBTQ+ members of the service, which is horrifying because they’re the ones who have been serving.”
“To have, frankly, these frat boy pricks come along and treat them as though they are less than, treat them as though they don’t belong is, it’s just, it’s disgusting,” he continued. “It makes me incredibly angry, because it really is, it’s a betrayal of people’s service.”
And when a trans woman asked Platner last month if he would “fight with me,” the candidate responded he was “happy to stand by your side.” He went to the edge of the stage and embraced the voter.
Yet Platner, an ex-Marine-turned oyster farmer, has posted derogatory comments toward the LGBT community. The Advocate, which calls itself “the queer paper of record,” said his posts spanning from 2016 through 2021 “show a pattern of homophobic language and rhetoric that mocked or demeaned LGBTQ+ people.”
In July 2018, Platner wrote, “I suppose some gay fellas still prefer holes as well. Party on top bros.” The next month, while arguing with another user, he posted, “Betcha not a single downvoter is a real combat vet. Feel free to back it up with facts, fags.”
“I like how our gay antics make him so uncomfortable he hates us. I’m doubling down on gay chicken next time in honor of this Air Force pussy,” he posted in June 2021. “This was the gayest (not in the fun dick sucking way) thing I’ve ever seen. This dude is literally everything I hate all rolled into one,” he wrote a year earlier. In other posts, he mocked military officers as “gay.”
A spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign called the comments “disturbing and degrading to the LGBTQ+ community” and noted that Maine voters “have a long history of backing pro-equality policies.”
Since Platner’s comments—and his tattoo of a Nazi symbol—surfaced, his campaign has bled senior staff.
Platner apologized for his remarks, calling them “indefensible.” He claimed he changed his perspective after befriending gay and transgender people.
“I made a lot of comments over the years and talked a lot of shit on the internet,” Platner told the Advocate. “I stopped using that specific kind of language a while ago … and today I find that stuff abhorrent. And I am sorry that I ever used it.”
Platner did not respond to a request for comment.
