Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president last cycle, opted to fly to Maine to stump for Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who is running for Senate and who has a Nazi tattoo.
Several members of Congress responded. “Don’t forget to ask him about his Nazi tattoo,” stated Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas). “Can you let him know there’s ways to remove the Nazi tattoos from his chest?” asked Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
“In case it wasn’t clear before why Kamala Harris selected Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro. This is who they are,” the Republican Jewish Coalition stated.
The RJC also responded to a post from a host of Pod Save America, who used to be a speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, referring to Platner as “a good, decent man who’s struggled and grown and is always trying to do better.”
“A ‘decent man who’s struggled,’ huh?” it wrote. “Maybe Graham Platner should write a book about ‘his struggle’ in German to match his Nazi tattoo.”
AIPAC also weighed in. “‘Struggled’? That’s the word you’re going with for Platner?” it stated. “You want a candidate who had a Nazi tattoo for 18 years, and now singles out pro-Israel Americans, talking about ‘My Struggle?’” (Hitler’s book title, Mein Kampf, means “my struggle.”)
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on Thursday of Platner that “people should have second chances.” But Jewish Democratic organizations don’t appear to be ready to give him a chance.
Democratic Majority for Israel’s PAC lists no Maine endorsements, and Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, stated recently that “we won’t support a Democrat who doesn’t represent the views and values of the vast majority of American Jews.”
The council “has endorsed more than 120 candidates across the country who are fighting for the issues Jewish Americans care about and standing against antisemitism,” Soifer said. “It’s those many Democrats who have our backs, and we’ll have theirs as they work to defeat Republicans aligned with this White House whose views are antithetical to our values.”
Platner is headed for the Democratic nod without opposition, after Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, entered her candidacy. Defeating Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is key to Democratic chances of capturing the chamber this fall.
Since Mills dropped out, Platner has reportedly pulled out of all of the primary debates.
Platner raised $12 million through March 31, far outpacing Mills, who has brought in $5.4 million, per Federal Election Commission reports. Collins raised $13 million.
The Cook Political Report rates the contest a tossup, and Inside Elections gives Collins a slight edge.
Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, stated, “I don’t understand why the progressives want to gamble the next Democratic trifecta on someone with a Nazi tattoo,” according to Jewish Insider.
Platner has come under fire for a skull and crossbones Totenkopf tattoo that he got while in the Marines that was associated with Nazi police. He has said that he has since covered the tattoo up. He has also said that he didn’t know it was a Nazi symbol.
“Following the war, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists resurrected the Totenkopf as a hate symbol because of its importance to the SS and it has been a common hate symbol since,” the Anti-Defamation League states. “It is this particular image of a skull and crossbones that is considered a hate symbol, not any image of a skull and crossbones.”
Platner told CNN in March that he believed Israel committed “genocide” when it responded to the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks.
“I fundamentally believe that a nation that is committing a genocide should not be a place that we are putting money,” Platner said at the time.
“We should be leveraging the fact that we have a lot of power in this relationship due to our funding,” he said. “We should be leveraging that to, frankly, get the Israeli government to stop behaving in such an utterly atrocious fashion.”
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City and a harsh critic of the Jewish state, hired a former Platner senior adviser to be his press secretary.
“Make no mistake. Platner knew he had a Nazi tattoo, and now he wants to represent Maine in the Senate,” stated Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “Maine voters should reject this fraud.”
