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Radical leftist Graham Platner easily took the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Maine on Tuesday, despite being partially loaded with a truckload of shame. It began last year with the revelation that Platner had a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and it wasn’t a swastika — it was the “Totenkopf,” the symbol of the SS troops who guarded the Holocaust death camps.
Broadcast networks avoided the topic of Platner and his tattoo for months. On April 22, the National Public Radio story was skipped. So much for a program titled “All Things Considered.” Maine Public Radio’s Steve Mistler reported: “Platner’s well-documented arguments — including past inflammatory social media posts about sexual harassment, white rural voters and black canvassing practices — have not scared off top endorsements,” such as those from Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others. Platner has been painted as a populist.
The TV networks arrived when a new scandal emerged on May 31: Platner had engaged in sending sexual images to a number of women while he was newly married. We learned this because his disgraced wife Amy warned campaign officials that it could be a problem, and someone leaked it to the Wall Street Journal.
Network hosts on Sunday asked Democrats questions that were ridiculously open. On CBS, Margaret Brennan tried: “Do you pass the character test?” NBC’s Kristen Welker threw in a little: “Is Graham Platner giving Democrats a headache?” Duh. ABC’s Jonathan Karl worries about his party: “Are you worried about the weight of all these controversies that could jeopardize the Democratic Alliance’s hopes of getting that Senate seat in Maine?”
WATCH: FOUR VOTERS DIVIDED IN PLATNER AS SCANDALS SHADOW DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., and Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner stand together at the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In general, during midterm election years, broadcast networks largely avoid covering individual candidates with one exception: a Republican candidate or two who can be exploited as scandal, as they did with Christine O’Donnell of Delaware in 2010, Todd Akin of Missouri in 2012, and Georgia’s in Plat20l Wal 2012, although Georgia’s Glaker’s is no exception. he would – if he were a Republican.
On June 5, the latest shoe dropped on the networks. The New York Times reported that several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends have identified themselves as toxic and have allegations of misconduct against them.
CBS evening host Tony Dokoupil, who on the left is one of Trump’s supporters, made a DNC spin: “Graham Platner, if you don’t know, is an oyster farmer and the head of the Democrats’ plans to retake the US Senate. He is also a changed man, he says, full of regrets about the past.
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On ABC, journalist Selina Wang repeated allegations of violent behavior – grabbing shoulders and leaving marks, twisted arms – and Platner denied any violence. Wang softened at the Nazi painting: “it was a painting that looked like a Nazi symbol,” and “Platner insists that he only recently understood the Nazi connection.” Can anyone suggest that the swastika is “similar” to the Nazi symbol?
NBC was slow on domestic violence claims. On June 6, reporter Monica Alba concluded the candidate’s denial: “Platner, while saying in the past that he was not a perfect boyfriend, denies ‘anything against the body.’ And, coming up on Tuesday, it could be an important part of the Democrats’ hopes of taking back the Senate. “
The network’s tough critic was David Brooks on the “PBS NewsHour” on June 5. “This guy is dirty. Abuse of women, sexting, Nazi tattoo, I don’t even need to say anything beyond his Reddit posts … a sad empty boy who stands in a disgusting way.” But his colleague Jonathan Capehart insisted that the Democrats need to keep him in order to defeat Republican Senator Susan Collins and make life difficult for President Donald Trump.
WATCH: SHAHEEN DODGES QUESTIONS PLTNER REPORTER AS AIDE CAUSES DONTI DISRUPTION
On Monday’s “News Hour,” NPR reporter Tamara Keith tried to dispel the scandal: “The Democrats have the best. And I think there’s a lot of difference here.” Nuances, like a Nazi tattoo.
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On June 5, the latest shoe dropped on the networks. The New York Times reported that several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends have identified themselves as toxic and have allegations of misconduct against them.
On Tuesday morning, “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King announced that Maine voters had “heard a lot of bad news about Platner’s relationship with women” and reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns wrote Platner’s win as a “test” of “how much voters are willing to put up with to ensure the success of their party.” The broadcast networks will mostly say that winning the Democratic primary means that the scandals have been overcome, and that they are tired of the “old news.”
After Platner won the primary, NBC’s Ryan Nobles praised Platner: “Those scandals, in many ways, seem to have strengthened his relationship with the Democratic Party, and now he’s ready to deliver his progressive message in November. … The oyster man and the marine vet have powered progress despite facing many scandals.”
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ABC’s late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel offered his own take on the Platner-Trump moral equation. Platner won the first prize despite “numerous scandals, including the revelation of a Nazi tattoo on his body, sexting with women while married, and allegations of abuse. If the Democrats can’t get him into the Senate, then the Republicans plan to nominate him for president in 2028.”
This is Kimmel’s first joke about Platner, and it’s a Trump joke. But broadcast comedians can always be counted on to punctuate the newscasts of the day.
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