The Democrat candidate who is looking to replace longtime Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) is now disavowing all of the nasty things that he said after CNN dug up his old social media posts.
Oyster farmer and military veteran Graham Platner, who seeks to dislodge the media’s favorite Republican from the Senate seat that she’s occupied for nearly three decades, was forced into damage control mode over the Reddit posts in which he expressed anti-police sentiment and suggested that white rural voters who support President Donald J. Trump are racists.
The Reddit account of Graham Platner, a Democrat Senate Candidate in Maine, was just discovered by CNN.
u/P-Hustle
He thought he could purge his comment history, but the internet is forever, Graham. pic.twitter.com/LqXkRw6rbU
— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) October 16, 2025
Platner wrote “F*** these cops,” and “Cops are bastards… All of them, in fact.” The 41-year-old also described himself as a “communist” and seemed to encourage political violence in the posts, which have now been deleted.
In one post, the Senate hopeful shared his take that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history,” and in another, reportedly wrote that “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”
Responding to a thread with the title “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” Platner disagreed.
“Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are,” he wrote.
Oh, and he thinks White Americans are “racist” and “stupid” pic.twitter.com/jcHJq2uK5n
— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) October 16, 2025
“I did used to love America, or at least the idea of it. These days I’m pretty disgusted by it all,” he confessed in another since-deleted post.
“I don’t want people to see me for who I was in my worst internet comment — or even frankly who I was in my best internet comment … I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really,” Platner told CNN, explaining away the posts as “me just being an a‑‑hole on the internet”
“I have an immense amount of friends who are police officers,” he added. “They’re not all bastards because they’re literally buddies of mine.”
“As I told CNN, I was f**king around on the internet at a time when I felt lost and very disillusioned with our government who sent me overseas to watch my friends die,” Platner said in a statement to Politico, which also reported on the offensive posts. “I made dumb jokes and picked fights. But of course I’m not a socialist. I’m a small business owner, a Marine Corps veteran, and a retired sh*tposter.”
In his posts from the subreddit r/SocialistRA along with other forums, Platner also quoted jailed former socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, saying that he “agreed” workers should arm themselves unless they are “willing to be forced into abject slavery,” according to Politico.
The former Marine has been endorsed by Debs’ modern-day counterpart, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who sees him as a legitimate challenger to Collins.
New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich is right. We need more candidates like Graham Platner of Maine. pic.twitter.com/EuChWyWNP7
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 5, 2025
“Graham Platner is a great working class candidate for Senate in Maine who will defeat Susan Collins,” he wrote in a post to X a week before CNN unearthed the old posts.
“It’s disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We need to focus on winning that seat & not waste millions on an unnecessary & divisive primary,” Comrade Bernie added, referring to Maine Governor Janet Mills, who has been recruited by party fat cats and is expected to announce her own Senate candidacy soon, according to the Associated Press.
No wonder Bernie Sanders likes Graham Platner.
Platner called himself a “communist,” dismissed “all” police as bastards, and said rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid. pic.twitter.com/jJi4214nLF
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 16, 2025
“If we’re going to beat Susan Collins, we need to run a kind of politics, a kind of campaign, . . . that actually engages working Mainers, engages regular people,” Platner said in a recent interview with The Bulwark.
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