Democrats Ignored the Tattoo but Now They Are Bailing on Platner Within Hours of Damning New Allegations

Bernie Sanders spent nearly a year defending Graham Platner through a Nazi tattoo scandal.

Then one new allegation changed everything for Senate Democrats in a single night.

What happened next reveals exactly how disposable Graham Platner really was to his own party.

Democrats Sat On Red Flags For Nearly A Year

Jenny Racicot says Graham Platner showed up at her home in 2021, drunk, and forced himself on her.

Platner calls it "categorically untrue."

But Racicot's name wasn't new to this story.

A New York Times report back in June already quoted her describing an encounter with Platner as "reckless" and "unsettling" – she just hadn't gone public with the assault claim yet.

Democrats knew her name. They ran with him anyway.

This is the same candidate who spent 20 years walking around with a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo on his chest before covering it up last year.

The same candidate whose old Reddit posts mocked a wounded Purple Heart soldier as a "dumb motherf****r" who "didn't deserve to live."

The same candidate whose own wife caught him sexting other women and flagged it to his campaign within days of him launching his Senate bid.

Bernie Sanders stood next to him anyway, brushing off the tattoo scandal by pivoting to healthcare talking points.

Elizabeth Warren endorsed him anyway.

Ro Khanna defended him anyway, publicly, as recently as June.

Now that a rape allegation has landed, all three are suddenly discovering their conscience.

Khanna posted on X that the allegations are "very serious and credible" and pulled his endorsement within hours.

Warren said Platner should "step aside."

Arizona's Ruben Gallego rescinded his endorsement the same day, calling the allegations "troubling and deeply serious."

Schumer and DSCC chair Kirsten Gillibrand didn't even wait for Platner to respond before announcing the party would starve the race of money if he stays on the ballot.

Democrat operative Neera Tanden took a victory lap on X, sniping that "taking a chance on someone who has never won any primary or any general election is unwise."

Where was that wisdom in June, Neera?

The July 13 Deadline Democrats Are Racing Against

Maine law gives Platner until July 13 to withdraw if Democrats want a replacement on the November ballot.

Miss that date and Susan Collins may be running against a damaged Democrat by default.

Democrats picked Platner because he crushed the primary field with nearly three-fourths of the vote after Governor Janet Mills suspended her own campaign, riding a populist wave and a viral following built on trashing the party establishment.

Now that same party establishment is trying to erase him before Election Day arrives.

Susan Collins, for her part, isn't touching the internal Democrat civil war.

She told reporters the allegations are "appalling," then made clear it's "not up to me to choose the Democratic nominee for Senate" – letting Schumer and Warren do the rest of her opposition research for her.

Republican super PACs aren't slowing down either.

Groups backing Collins have already outspent Platner's campaign nearly 10 to 1 over the past week alone, and Republicans are on pace to outspend Democrats 4 to 1 in the week ahead while Democrats debate whether their own nominee can survive to November.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2074532203246022960

Platner himself hasn't quit.

In a video posted minutes after the Politico story broke, he said he was "taking the time to reflect on the best path forward" – acknowledging the politics without admitting a thing.

That's not the language of a man planning to fight the allegation in court.

That's the language of a man counting votes in his own party and not liking the math.

Bernie Sanders Defended This Candidate For Eleven Months Straight

Here's what fires people up about this one: Democrats didn't get fooled by Graham Platner.

None of it was hidden. The tattoo was public. The Reddit posts were public. The sexting was public. His own vetting team admitted to the Wall Street Journal that their background check never even surfaced the tattoo, because nobody bothered to look hard enough at the outsider they'd already fallen in love with.

Sanders stood by him through a Nazi tattoo, offensive posts about a wounded veteran, and a report calling his behavior toward women "unsettling."

It took an actual rape allegation to get Chuck Schumer to move, and even then his statement read less like moral clarity and more like a campaign finance decision.

Susan Collins didn't lay a glove on this candidate.

His own party did that for her.

Sources:

• Adriel Perez-Gonzalez, "Democrats Run For The Hills As New Platner Allegations Surface," The Daily Caller, July 6, 2026.
• Scott McClallen, "The Nazi Tattoo, the Reddit Posts, and Now This: Graham Platner's Senate Campaign in Crisis," Townhall, May 30, 2026.
• "Graham Platner controversies from sexting to Nazi tattoo rock Maine race," Fox News, June 4, 2026.
• "Activists behind Graham Platner's rise admit vetting process didn't bring up Nazi-linked tattoo," Fox News, June 2026.
• "Staff Departures, Sex Scandals, Nazi Tattoo and Vulgar Reddit Posts Leave Graham Platner Campaign Looking Like a Political Train Wreck," The Maine Wire, June 1, 2026.