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The growing scandal over Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner has created tension in the Democratic Party, with several Democratic strategists who spoke to Fox News Digital warning of long-term consequences for the party embracing him.
“Anyone who pays attention to the intersection of culture and politics knows that my party pushed #MeToo beyond the boundaries of common sense long before the rise of Graham Platner,” said Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, about whether the #MeToo movement has anything to do with the party as top Democrats support Platner.
“But the party’s desire to circle the wagons is tantamount to the politics of pulling the plug on any credibility the Democrats had left as self-elected champions for women.”
“If values disappear when they are politicized, they are not values at all.”
JONATHAN TULEY: WHEN THE JOURNALISTS CRY ABOUT #METOO, THEY DON’T MEAN PLTNER
Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, speaks at a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, June 9, 2026. Platner won the party’s Senate nomination after a campaign marked by allegations of past misconduct and voter concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former adviser to President Bill Clinton and Democratic strategist Doug Schoen argued that Democrats chose power and control of the Senate over serious concerns about Platner’s past, and that could hurt them in 2028.
“In the short term, for some Democrats, those on the left, it’s the right decision, the right decision,” Schoen said. “To me, it’s very hurtful and undermines the integrity of the Democratic Party as a whole.”
“C“Certainly, I think they’ve left themselves vulnerable because of Platner’s extreme leftist positions, his toxicity as a person, the relationship issues, the lying about his Nazi painting,” Schoen said. “I certainly think this creates problems for Democrats where there doesn’t need to be.”
Platner dismissed long-standing allegations from girlfriends who told The New York Times that he discussed rape dreams, drank heavily and had violent episodes, while facing mounting criticism over sexually explicit text messages allegedly sent to women shortly after marriage, a Nazi-related tattoo and online comments mocking the Purple Heart veteran.
Despite new controversies brewing days before Maine’s Democratic Senate primary, Graham Platner won the primary with the most votes of any Democrat in state history.
Democratic strategist Mally Smith told Fox News Digital that she doesn’t believe Platner’s campaign is “the death knell” of the #MeToo movement, but that Democrats who have “fully embraced” her campaign “will have a problem when it comes to impeachment in the Epstein files or any general allegations of belief against all women.”
“So maybe the Democrats don’t have the power anymore, but I’d say it’s not like the Republicans have a good chance,” Smith said. “I think the voters will just say, both parties are willing to sit with the baggage of their candidates.”
Looking ahead to 2028, LaRosa said Democrats could be haunted by their relationship with Platner for years.
“If he wins, you still have to explain why you stand with him,” said LaRosa. “If he is defeated, you will have nothing but the association. Even if he is the person who will be answering to him.”
Smith described Platner’s rise by citing voters who are “dissatisfied with the status quo” to the point where there is “an element, whether it’s Republican voters who support President Donald Trump or Democratic Alliance voters who support Graham Platner in Maine, where they say these prominent people who are attacking him are actually proof that he’s on the right track.”
For some, the arguments are still too big for voters to ignore. LaRosa said voters “reward courage, not willful blindness” when they judge a candidate by a Nazi tattoo on his chest, adding that Democratic leaders lack that “courage.”
DEMOCRATS REST WITH GRAHAM PLATNER FACING SCANDAL, WARN OF WAR IN COUNTRY
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., and Graham Platner of the Democratic US Senate stand together at the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Maine on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“We look naive, unprincipled and hypocritical if we look the other way when it comes to any candidate being accused of any level of violence against women just because it’s a political distraction,” LaRosa said. “Voters should no longer trust us or take our moral arguments seriously. Principles only mean something if they are applied across the board, even if they are politically unsatisfying.”
For more than a decade, Democrats have used the “Nazi” line of attack against President Donald Trump, and yet most of them have sided with Platner, despite the Nazi image drawn on his body for 18 years.
“They see all these crazies, like a guy from Maine … for ten years they’ve been calling me ‘Nazis,’ and now they’ve got a Nazi running around. He’s got a tattoo on him,” President Trump said during a press conference on Thursday.
Schoen said Democrats have now weakened their case for Republican scandals, pointing to Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
“For all the criticism they received from Ken Paxton in Texas, they will receive criticism from Graham Platner in Maine, which to me makes their job very difficult,” said Schoen.
Smith made a similar point, saying that both parties face candidates who cause their “version of heartburn” that can be used against them in politics.
Trump-backed Paxton won the primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, after he was indicted by the Texas House, a federal investigation into allegations he misused his office to favor a donor and allegations of fraud.
LaRosa said the “unsatisfying truth” is that Democrats have reduced Platner to easy political calculations, viewing him as “just another number, another vote, another seat, another data point on a spreadsheet” instead of focusing on whether he’s the right person for the job.
PLATNER DISPUTES FUEL SPEECH ABOUT LITTLE-KNOWN MAINE BALL CHANGE PROGRAMS
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during an election night event in Plano, Texas, on May 26, 2026. (Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
November may provide a clear test, Schoen said. He said that Platner’s victory does not mean that he has abandoned his political burdens, adding that Platner has left the party to deal with problems “where they don’t have to be.”
“With Graham Platner, there are sources of concern going on, and it’s not clear to me that he will survive and succeed,” Schoen said.
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Ultimately, Smith said Maine voters will focus on the economy and that concerns about Platner may be a bigger issue for the state than for the rest of the country.
“Voters are unhappy with the economy, and I think a lot of people are going to vote that they believe the economy is better than when Trump was inaugurated, and the answer to that is a resounding no,” Smith said. “So I think the news stations like to talk about Graham Platner and what this means for Democrats in general, or vice versa, Ken Paxton of the Nazis thinks that the majority of Republican voters and Republicans are not all Grahams Plathams. tattoo outside of Maine. So I think this is a Maine local problem. “
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Platner campaign for comment.
