Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said Sunday that Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s resurfaced 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 told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer who is running a progressive campaign in the Pine Tree State, called other users “r—–ed,” called himself a “communist,” called “all” police bastards and said rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, according to a review of previously deleted Reddit posts conducted by CNN’s KFILE.
In 2013, Platner also minimized issues that service members face in reporting sexual assault and said those who are raped should “not get so f—-d up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to,” according to The Washington Post.
Platner disavowed the posts in a video he posted to the social platform X on Friday, saying they stemmed from his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder after he returned from Afghanistan in 2011.
Martin said Sunday that he believes “in second chances” and that “a lot of people say things at their most vulnerable times.”
“The question for me is whether or not they actually learn from them, whether or not they actually reflect on those, that they’re sincere in their apology and more importantly that they have changed their behavior,” the first-year DNC chair added.
Platner, 41, is running in the Democratic primary ahead of the 2026 Senate election in Maine, in which Republican Susan Collins, 72, is going for a sixth term in the upper chamber.
The state’s Democratic governor, 77-year-old Janet Mills, also entered the primary race last week. Mills’s entry sets up a generational and ideological battle between herself and Platner, just as Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.) cited age concerns in challenging progressive Sen. Ed Markey (Mass.).
Martin, though, said that the DNC will not “put the thumb on the scale for anyone,” despite the public’s concerns over candidates’ ages.
“It’s up to the primary voters in all these states to decide who they think will be the best candidate to represent us as we take on Republicans in each of those states,” Martin added. “My job as a DNC chair is to build the infrastructure we need to win.”
