Former US Marine who covered up ‘Nazi’ tattoo wins Democratic primary

US Marine veteran Graham Platner, who recently covered up a Nazi-style tattoo, has won Maine’s Democratic Senate primary and will face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.

Platner, a progressive with no previous political experience, won 75% of the vote, garnering support from left-wing Democrats and attracting large crowds with firebrand rhetoric, including promises to “topple the oligarchy” and accusations that his future opponent serves the “Epstein class.” Other Democrats, however, have expressed concerns about whether Platner can defeat Collins in light of his numerous scandals.

Platner, who completed three tours in Iraq with the Marines and another in Afghanistan as a National Guardsman, long had the Totenkopf emblem – a well-known Nazi symbol – tattooed on his chest. The candidate said he was unaware of the symbol’s meaning when he got the tattoo in Croatia in 2007 while heavily intoxicated alongside fellow service members. He described it as “a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones,” noting that the National Guard prohibits tattoos that are “extremist, racist, sexist, or otherwise indecent.”

In October 2025, Platner covered the tattoo with a different design – a Celtic knot featuring a wolf-like creature that some suggested resembled Fenrir, a wolf from Norse mythology. Critics argued that Nordic-inspired imagery is also popular among some far-right and white supremacist groups.

“If I was ever under the impression that it was a symbol associated with that ideology, I would not have gone through life taking photographs of myself,” said Platner, who describes himself as an anti-fascist.

Platner has also been criticized for old online posts in which he used homophobic slurs and argued that victims of sexual assault in the military should “act like an adult” and avoid getting “blacked out f*cked up.” He later apologized and attributed the comments to struggles with PTSD.