Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, is facing controversy over a chest tattoo resembling the Totenkopf symbol used by Nazi SS units. The tattoo, obtained during a 2007 military deployment, has drawn accusations amid resurfaced offensive Reddit posts. Platner has denied Nazi sympathies and recently covered the tattoo.
Graham Platner, a Marine veteran who served four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, emerged as the Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in the 2026 Maine Senate race. Endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders as an anti-establishment outsider, Platner's campaign released a video on the Pod Save America podcast showing him shirtless and singing at his brother's wedding, revealing a skull tattoo on his chest. The image resembles the Totenkopf, a "death's head" symbol adopted by Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) for guarding concentration camps during World War II.
The video aimed to preempt opposition research from the GOP's Senate campaign arm, which accused Platner of displaying a "Nazi tattoo." On the podcast, Platner stated, "I am not a secret Nazi." He explained getting the tattoo in 2007 while "very inebriated" on leave in Croatia during a Marines deployment, selecting a "terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall." He added, "At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say, 'Hey, you’re a Nazi.' It never came up, until we got wind that in the opposition research somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo. And I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years."
However, a former acquaintance told Jewish Insider that in 2012, at Tune Inn bar on Capitol Hill where Platner worked as a bartender while attending George Washington University, he acknowledged the tattoo's meaning. "He said, 'Oh, this is my Totenkopf,'" the acquaintance recalled, noting Platner said it "in a cutesy little way." Platner reportedly gave varying accounts at the time, sometimes claiming awareness when he got it and other times denying knowledge. His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned last week over unearthed Reddit posts, wrote on Facebook: "Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest. He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff. Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means."
The Reddit posts, resurfaced recently, include Platner describing himself as a "communist," calling police "bastards," dismissing sexual assault in the military, and defending a man with a Nazi SS lightning bolt tattoo who impersonated a federal officer at a 2020 BLM protest in Las Vegas. In a 2020 post, he mentioned having "antifa super soldier" on armor he owned. Sanders defended Platner, saying, "There’s a young man who served his country in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he went through some really difficult experiences... I personally think he is an excellent candidate. I’m going to support him." When questioned about the sexual assault comments, Sanders replied, "Have you served four tours of duty?"
Platner, now facing Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary, has since covered the tattoo with a new one, as reported by the Associated Press.