Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said Sunday on CNN that U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner’s unearthed social media comments are not “disqualifying.”
“I don’t think they’re disqualifying, but certainly they’re not right. And I’m glad that he apologized for them. They’re indefensible, they’re hurtful and they’re offensive,” Martin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Platner is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ seat.
His old social media posts resurfaced last week, some of them dating back more than a decade and others from recent years.
On Friday, Platner apologized for the comments, saying they reflected an earlier version of himself who was “struggling deeply.”
In now-deleted Reddit posts, Platner described himself as a “communist,” called rural white Americans “racist” and “stupid,” and called police “bastards.”
He also asked why Black people “don’t tip” and suggested people concerned about being raped shouldn’t be inebriated around people they don’t feel comfortable with.
Platner posted on the social media site more than 1,800 times between 2009 and 2021.
In a video posted on social media, Platner, a Marine and Army veteran, apologized for the posts.
He said some of his “worst comments” came after he returned from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was immersed in the “very masculine” culture of the military.
“I had PTSD, I had depression. I had all the things that come with serving in two wars that I eventually came to not believe in at all,” he said.
Also Friday, the political director of Platner’s campaign, former State Rep. Genevieve McDonald of Stonington, resigned.
”While I am empathetic to Graham’s experiences and respect his personal journey and growth, I cannot overlook the volume and nature of his past comments, many of which were made as an adult, not as a young man,” McDonald wrote in her resignation letter.