Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said Sunday that old Reddit posts from Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner that resurfaced last week are not “disqualifying” but are “hurtful” and “offensive.”
“I don’t think they’re disqualifying, but certainly they’re not right, and I’m glad that he apologized for them,” Martin told CNN on Sunday. “They’re indefensible, they’re hurtful and they’re offensive.”
Platner on Friday posted a lengthy apology video on X after CNN reported last week that Platner had previously made comments on Reddit criticizing police officers, calling rural Americans “stupid” and referring to himself as a “communist.”
In Friday’s apology video, Platner said, “For those of you who have read these things and been offended, have read these things and seen someone that you don’t recognize, I am deeply sorry.”
He also explained that many of the posts were written in the years after he returned home from multiple military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and that he was in state of “disillusionment” at the time.
“I made comments that I’m not happy about, that I do not agree with, but they came from a time and place in my life, and as I watch or as I read through the comments that were released, I can see myself changing,” Platner said Friday. “My language gets less crude, my thoughts and my feelings get a lot less kind of rough around the edges. I do get almost more disillusioned, though, and it’s important to know that this was a time in my life where I was struggling deeply.”
In Reddit comments reviewed by NBC News, Platner called himself a “communist,” writing, “I got older and became a communist.”
He also referred to himself as “a vegetable-growing, psychedelics-taking, socialist these days.”
Platner told CNN last week, “I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist. I own a small business. I’m a Marine Corps veteran.”
In another instance, Platner responded to a 2020 post from a user who wrote, “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks.”
“Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are,” Platner replied.
He also referred to cops as “bastards,” writing, “Bastards. Cops are bastards. All of them, in fact,” echoing a phrase popularized following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
In other comments, Platner downplayed challenges faced by service members in reporting sexual assault and encouraged people to “act like an adult” and not to get “blacked out” to avoid being raped.
“You make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don’t want to be in a comprising situation, act like an adult for f---s sake,” Platner wrote. “Rape is a real thing, if you’re so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear you’d think you might not get blacked out f----d up around people you aren’t comfortable with.”
CNN and The Washington Post first reported the comments.
“I’m sorry for this. Just know that it’s not reflective at all of who I am. I don’t want you to judge me on the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the internet. I would prefer if people could judge me on the person I am today,” Platner said in his social media video on Friday.
On Sunday, Martin said he believed Platner when he said he didn’t agree today with the comments he’d made previously.
“I believe in second chances. I believe a lot of people say things at their most vulnerable times, they say things when they’re young that, again, are offensive,” Martin told CNN’s Dana Bash.
“And, you know, the question for me is whether or not they actually learn from them, whether or not they actually reflect on those, that they’re sincere in their apology, and, more importantly, that they have changed their behavior,” the DNC chair added. “And as I’ve listened to Graham Platner, I absolutely believe in his contrition here. I believe that he acknowledges that the words he used were harmful and offensive to so many people throughout this country.”
Platner is running for Senate in Maine, where Democrats are once again trying to flip a Senate seat that GOP Sen. Susan Collins has held for almost 30 years.
Platner, a military veteran and oyster farmer, quickly gained momentum after he launched his campaign in August, picking up a crucial endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and earning the support of several labor unions in the state.
Last week, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, 77, also jumped into the race, creating a competitive Democratic primary. Collins won her last re-election race in 2020 by almost 9 percentage points.
Shortly after her campaign launch, Mills faced questions about her age and told NBC News that she doesn’t plan to serve more than one term in the Senate.
Martin on Sunday dismissed concerns about Mills’ age when asked about them by CNN, saying that the party’s leadership would not meddle in the Democratic primary in Maine or elsewhere.
“It’s up to the primary voters in all these states to decide who they think will be the best candidate to represent us as we take on Republicans in each of those states,” Martin said. “My job as the DNC chair is to build the infrastructure we actually need to win, and then once those voters actually decide who our nominee is, to actually fight like hell to make sure that they win against Republicans. That’s where my focus is. We’re not going to put the thumb on the scale for anyone. You know, if other folks want to do that, that’s their prerogative. But the DNC is going to stay out of primaries.”
