WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Chuck Schumer’s preferred candidate, Janet Mills, officially out of Maine’s Senate race, Democrats are now stuck lining up behind Graham Platner: a racist, woman-hating extremist whose “working-class” brand is a complete façade.
Mills’ exit marks Schumer’s first major proxy-war loss to Bernie Sanders in Democrats’ larger civil war across Senate battlegrounds. Upcoming messy primaries where Schumer-backed candidates are running against Sanders’ progressive extremists include Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan.
Here’s what people are saying:
News Headlines
The New York Times — Mills Exit Is a Blow to Schumer as Democrats Question His Strategy: ” . . . And [the primary fight] came at a potentially massive cost: Ms. Mills had already released two scathing television ads against Mr. Platner, focusing on comments he made over a decade ago on Reddit about rape. Those attacks could leave Mr. Platner more vulnerable in a general election against Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, in which he must win support from older women to prevail.”
Politico — Schumer faces renewed scrutiny after Mills meltdown: ” . . . But Mills’ nosedive against progressive oysterman and military veteran Graham Platner in a must-win race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins marks the latest in a long line of what some of his own members and top party strategists view as critical missteps for Schumer.”
Semafor — Exclusive / Republicans plan ‘all-out assault’ on Platner’s candidacy in Maine: ” . . . Mills ran several ads hitting Platner for his Reddit posts, specifically one in which he suggested people should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f*cked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” But the ad buys were far smaller than what Republicans have in store. Scott, who was just in Maine for the state’s GOP convention, suggested Republicans’ campaign against Platner will be wide-ranging and cover his posts about rural white voters and Black people tipping less, as well as his biography.”
NOTUS — Janet Mills’ Sudden Exit Has Democrats Asking: What Was Schumer Thinking?: ” . . . Mills’ sudden exit from the Maine Senate race on Thursday has left some Democrats worried about their party’s chances in the must-win general election contest against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. . . . The lack of support from Schumer was conspicuous, some Maine Democrats said, especially after he had recruited her into the race. ‘She got utterly fucked over by Schumer,’ one Democrat said.”
Townhall — Democrats Have a Massive Graham Platner Problem: “Democrats are between a rock and a hard place now that Maine Gov. Janet Mills has dropped out of the Senate primary race. The hard place is a man named Graham Platner, who has a penchant for Nazi tattoos and is so far to the left he makes Mao Zedong look like Ronald Reagan. The question people are already asking is whether Democrats will throw their support behind him despite his long list of scandals.”
Daily Caller — Governor Drops Out Of Senate Race, Leaving Only The Dem With Questionable Tattoos: ” . . . After Mills entered the race in October 2025, a series of previously deleted Reddit posts tied to Platner resurfaced. Posting under the pseudonym “P-Hustle,” Platner described himself as a “communist,” referred to “all” police officers as “bastards,” and criticized rural white Americans as racist and unintelligent — remarks that could complicate his appeal with rural voters.”
Breitbart — Gov. Janet Mills Suspends Senate Campaign, Handing Democrat Nomination to Graham ‘Nazi Tattoo’ Platner: ” . . . Her exit leaves just two Democrats left who qualify on the ballot: Progressive favorite Platner and David Costello. Collins is the only Republican and said of Mills’ exit, “I’m sure this was a difficult decision for Governor Mills, and I thank her for her decades of service to the people of Maine.”
Maine Wire — Mills Surrenders: The Boy With the Nazi Tattoo to Face Susan Collins in November: “Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ effervescent popularity evaporated in the face of a younger, more energetic male candidate who continues to be dogged by his past sins against the progressive creed. . . . For Schumer, the result is a public defeat in a primary he engineered.”
Senator Statements
NRSC Chairman Tim Scott — “Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine. Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical.”
Sen. Tom Cotton — “Democrats are rallying behind a self-described Communist with a nazi tattoo in Maine. The party has lost its mind. Susan Collins has spent her career standing up and delivering for Maine families. She’s ready to win this fight.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham — “Good news for my dear friend Susan Collins. She is now running against the most extreme candidate in the 2026 cycle. Think Elizabeth Warren, AOC and Bernie Sanders on steroids. I have no doubt Sen. Susan Collins is headed to victory in November.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno — “It’s official! The Democrat United States Senate nominee from the State of Maine is a nazi tattooed neophyte who says women are responsible for being raped.”
Sen. Ted Cruz — “It turns out there’s no room in today’s Democrat party for a candidate who DOESN’T have a Nazi tattoo….”
Conservative Voices
Republican Jewish Coalition: “The state of today’s Democratic Party: Nazi Tattoo Man Graham Platner, the Democrats’ de facto nominee for the U.S. Senate from Maine, is being praised by Hasan Piker for “giving Hamas credit”. Anything to say, Sen. Schumer?”
Clay Travis: “Wow, Maine Democrats are nominating the guy with the Nazi chest tattoo to take on Susan Collins. Nazi chest tattoo guy just smoked the sitting governor.”
Guy Benson: “With the party’s preferred candidate fully rejected by the left-wing base, they’ve now coalesced around the self-described Communist with a Nazi tattoo.”
Hugh Hewitt: “Presumptive Maine Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine Graham Platner is an extremist. He ought not to get 25% of the vote against Senator Collins.”
David Harsanyi: “Nazi tattoo? Hamas defender? No problem says Chuck Schumer, self-styled defender of Jewish interests and author of the book, ‘Antisemitism in America: A Warning.'”
Matt Whitlock: “Platner has done a solid job convincing Democrat small dollar donors he can cosplay effectively as a blue collar oyster farmer. As this ad highlights—he’s really a nepo baby internet commenter who did oyster farming as a hobby while living on Reddit dunking on rural Mainers.”
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