Graham Platner, the embattled Maine Senate candidate, accused his own party of trying to “destroy my life” during a packed town hall on Monday night in Damariscotta, Maine.
Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has faced a barrage of news stories about his past offensive online posts since Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) entered the Senate primary earlier this month. Speaking to a supportive crowd, he pinned the blame squarely on the Democratic Party.
“I am running as a Democrat, despite my party trying to destroy my life.” Platner said.
“And I always ask myself, as this gets hard, as my name gets dragged through the mud, as I get accused of being things that I am not and never have been, I have to remind myself that I have no right to quit. I have no right to give up,” he added.
Platner has apologized for past comments that appeared to minimize rape accusations, suggested Black people are bad tippers and white people are racists, and identified himself as a “communist” and police as “bastards. He has also denied knowing that his chest tattoo resembled a Nazi skull and bones, a claim that has been called into question by new reporting.
Mills criticized Platner earlier on Monday, telling reporters, “I obviously, vehemently disagree with the things he’s been quoted as saying and doing. Obviously, vehemently disagree with anybody having an abhorrent tattoo.”
Also on Monday, Platner’s campaign manager stepped down.
During Monday’s town hall, Platner said if elected, he’d work closely with senators including Sanders and Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.).
Sanders has stood by Platner amid the controversies. “He went through a dark period in his life. I suspect that Graham Platner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period,” the senator said during an appearance on “The Axios Show” last week.
A poll taken last week showed that voters have swung toward Mills as Platner contends with his past comments. A SoCal Strategies Maine Poll taken last week found Mills garnering 41 percent support from likely voters surveyed, while Platner received 36 percent, a massive swing from an earlier poll showing Platner with a healthy lead.
Platner said Monday he remains committed to his campaign, which was launched to “shuck the oligarchy.”
“We cannot be tricked into pointing fingers left and right when the only direction to be pointing fingers is up,” Platner said.
