Maine Senate candidate Platner says tattoo recognized as Nazi symbol has been covered

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OGUNQUIT, Maine (AP) — His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.

The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.

The revelation that the tattoo had been hastily covered up is just the latest bizarre twist that the high-stakes Senate race had taken in just the past 10 days. The unfolding drama has so far included a sweep of old internet posts, a drunken video of Platner in his underwear, and now the urgently edited tattoo.

Amid the frenzy, another Democratic candidate released his own shirtless photo to show off his arm tattoo of former President Barack Obama's presidential campaign logo.

Platner launched his campaign in August, but the intensity of the race ratcheted up last Monday when Gov. Janet Mills announced her entry into a race Democrats feel they must have if they are going to reclaim a Senate majority. Her entry had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is looking to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has held the Senate seat for nearly 30 years.

Shortly after Mills jumped in, news began trickling out from Platner's past.

Platner, an oyster farmer who is running as a progressive, pushed back, saying the onslaught demonstrated that he wasn’t the preferred candidate of establishment Democrats. Platner also accused his political opponents of attempting to “destroy my life" and vowed that he wasn't going to be scared off from the campaign.

“All this is doing is galvanizing my commitment to this project,” he said.

Platner's campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, yet Platner said he later chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.

“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”

The initial tattoo image resembled a specific symbol of Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II.

The new tattoo, completed late Tuesday, now is a Celtic knot with a dog-like creature splayed in the middle of it. The animal has four gangly legs and an elongated head with a curly tongue spiraling out. The image is mostly filled in with black ink, but the Celtic knot is green.

In a moment unlikely to be replicated in any campaign, let alone a contest for a U.S. Senate seat, Platner agreed to take his shirt off during an interview with WGME-TV, a Maine outlet based in Portland, on Wednesday to show off the new design. He also lifted his shirt to display it in a video he shared on social media in which he complained that it was distracting from issues that matter to him and to Maine voters.

Platner said he had never been questioned about the tattoo's connections to Nazi symbols in the 20 years he has had it. He said that after serving three tours as a Marine, he later went to enlist in the Army, which requires an examination for tattoos of hate symbols.

“I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail,” Platner said.

Questions about the tattoo come after the recent discovery of Platner’s now-deleted online statements that included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning Black patrons’ gratuity habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans. More old Reddit posts surfaced Wednesday, with The Advocate reporting that Platner used homophobic slurs and made anti-LGBTQ+ jokes between 2018 and 2021.

Platner has apologized for those comments, saying they were made after he left the Army in 2012, when he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

He has resisted calls to drop out of the race and has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has described Platner as a stronger candidate for the seat than Mills. Another primary rival, Jordan Wood, a onetime chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said Wednesday that Platner should drop out because “Democrats need to be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity” and Platner "no longer can.”

The National Republican Senate Committee, meanwhile, was fundraising off the controversy on Collins' behalf.

Platner said he was not ashamed to confront his past comments and actions because it reflects the lessons he needed to take to get where he is today.

“I don’t look at this as a liability," he told the AP, adding he sees it as "a life that I have lived, a journey that has been difficult, that has been full of struggle, that has also gotten me to where I am today. And I’m very proud of who I am.”

During a rally in the southern Maine town of Ogunquit on Wednesday night, Platner again addressed his regret about the tattoo and the recent concerns about his history on social media.

His mother, Leslie Harlow, who introduced him, also acknowledged it has been a rough week for her son, but that she has faith in his campaign to get through it. The event packed a 500 person-capacity theater and included frequent raucous applause.

“I am ashamed of things I once said. But I am not ashamed of who I am today,” Platner said from the stage before a round of applause.

Outside the rally, David Tufts of Eliot, Maine, said he felt Platner has done a good job addressing the week’s controversies. Tufts said he is a supporter of Platner because of his stance on issues such as increasing taxes on the wealthy and keeping the nation out of war.

“I feel like he has done a pretty good job of explaining the Reddit history, the tattoo. I feel like I kind of understand where he was coming from,” Tufts said, adding that it “doesn’t increase my faith in him,” but he’s still on board with the campaign.

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Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.