A leading Jewish organization called it “troubling” that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner has a skull-and-crossbones symbol linked to Nazi paramilitary organizations on his chest.
In a video from his brother’s wedding about a decade ago, Platner is shown dancing shirtless. He gave it to a liberal podcast in an effort to get ahead of opposition research into his background, is the latest bout of turbulence for the upstart Democrat hoping to win his party’s nomination to take on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in 2026.
Platner’s deleted social media posts surfaced last week, including those from 2013 in which he asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggesting people concerned about being raped shouldn’t be inebriated around people they don’t feel comfortable with, among other comments. His campaign’s political director, former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald, resigned Friday.
The elevated scrutiny of the Sullivan oysterman and military veteran is a nod to the amount of attention and momentum his campaign enjoyed after he joined the Senate race in August. The unearthed posts on Reddit in the past week have served as the first real test of Platner’s campaign and coincided with Gov. Janet Mills joining the Senate race as Platner’s chief Democratic rival.
In a Monday appearance on “Pod Save America,” a podcast hosted by Democratic operatives, Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 during his third deployment as a U.S. Marine. While on short-term leave, he and other Marines went to Croatia, where they got “very inebriated” and decided to get tattoos, he said.
“We chose a terrifying skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” Platner said. “And then we all moved on with our lives.”
The tattoo, seen specifically in the video, depicts a skull laid over crossbones. The orientation of the skull-and-crossbones symbol is consistent with a specific symbol called a “Totenkopf.”
The symbol was used by the Nazis during the height of their power in Germany and was adopted by the SS-Totenkopfverbande as the unit’s symbol. The SS-Totenkopfverbande was tasked with guarding concentration camps during World War II.
The symbol is also linked to the 3rd SS “Totenkopf” Panzer Division, which is now known to have committed war crimes during the war, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Since the end of the war, the Totenkopf became a hate symbol because of its ties and importance to the SS and is used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists, according to the ADL’s website.
“This appears to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one,” Jessica Cohen, an ADL spokesperson, said. “We do understand that sometimes people get tattoos without understanding their hateful association. In those cases, the bearer should be asked whether they repudiate its hateful meaning.”
On the podcast, Platner said he did not think about the tattoo until his campaign heard that opposition researchers were floating the idea that he was a “secret Nazi.” A campaign spokesperson responded to questions by saying Platner’s tattoos were reviewed by military doctors who did not flag them under rules barring extremist symbols.
“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” Platner said.
