Senate Dem candidate who wrote he 'became a communist' now says he was joking

Bernie Sanders comes to Maine candidate's defense over Nazi-like tattoo uproar

Carley Shimkus and Paul Mauro break down the Maine Senate race dividing the Democratic Party and the FBI’s multi-pronged NBA gambling case.

Maine Democrat Graham Platner now says he was "joking" in years-old Reddit posts where he identified himself as a "communist."

Platner, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., in 2026, published the now-deleted Reddit posts between 2020 and 2021. In one of the posts, he wrote, "I got older and became a communist," but he now claims it was merely "internet s---posting."

"I believe in Medicare-for-all. I believe in expanding the rights of workers to organize. I believe in taxing the ultra-rich. I believe in a fairer economic system," he told NBC News on Sunday. "I also know that because I believe in those things, people will refer to me as that no matter what… That's the joke."

He went on to explain away other posts he made at the time in which he described rural White voters as "stupid and racist."

MAINE DEM SENATE HOPEFUL BACKED BY BERNIE SANDERS APOLOGIZES FOR NAZI-STYLE TATTOO, VOWS TO STAY IN RACE

U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner walked back past claims that he was "a communist" on Sunday. (Libby Kenny/Sun Journal via AP)

"I did get in a fight with somebody and say that some rural White voters were stupid and racist," he told the outlet. "I myself am a rural White voter in eastern Maine. These are my neighbors and my friends. I actually rise to their defense often and continue to do so."

"I don’t want to be flippant about it, but I was getting in arguments on the Internet … at a part in my life when I was looking for interaction and engagement, at a time where I was feeling quite isolated and alone and very disillusioned at that point," he added. "I do not hold those feelings."

The internet posts were only one avenue of criticism Platner has faced in recent weeks. He also faced a whirlwind of backlash after photos revealed that he had a tattoo depicting the Totenkopf used by Hitler's SS paramilitary forces.

Graham Platner points to a now-covered covered tattoo that had previously been an image recognized as a Nazi symbol. (WGME via AP)

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Platner weathered calls for him to withdraw for the race, and a number of his top campaign staffers bowed out under the pressure. Nevertheless, he now claims his campaign is strong as ever.

"It is amusing for me to watch the campaign described in the media as collapsing or falling apart — when internally, we frankly have not felt this strong since the beginning," Platner told NBC News. "It hasn’t sunk my campaign. In fact it seems, in many ways, it’s strengthened us."

Platner has resisted calls for him to drop out of the Maine Senate race. (Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald via AP)

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"I want to talk about my evolution as a human being," he said. "A lot of Americans also want to have hope that you can change and that you can evolve, and that we can have a society that gives grace and forgiveness to people. Because if we can’t, if we think that people are just ossified into who they are right now, and can never be something different, then what’s the point?"

"We find ourselves now in a significantly stronger position, team-wise," he said. "While we lost some people, we’ve kept almost everybody, and people that have stayed are galvanized and committed."

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.