Can Graham Platner survive another controversy? | NPR’s Newsmakers
Episode of Up First from NPR · June 1, 2026 · 48 min
Leila Fadel interviews Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner about his working-class politics, past controversies, masculinity, the Iran war, Pete Hegseth, and beating Susan Collins.
Summary
In this NPR's Newsmakers episode shared on Up First, host Leila Fadel interviewed Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, at the Maine Carpenters Union. The introduction noted that after the interview, reports emerged that Platner had exchanged sexually explicit messages with women early in his marriage; his wife Amy Gertner defended him, and his campaign declined a follow-up interview but issued a statement.
Platner argued that the Democratic Party must return to being a party of organized labor and working people, defined the working class as anyone living mainly on wages rather than hoarded wealth, and called for higher taxes on billionaires' wealth. He dismissed Jeff Bezos's proposal to zero out taxes for lower earners as self-serving while endorsing the idea of never taxing people into poverty. He defended his qualifications by citing his infantry service, post-war struggles, and oyster farming, and said he could beat Susan Collins by rejecting the Washington-directed campaign playbook.
Asked about deleted Reddit posts and a tattoo resembling a Nazi SS symbol, Platner said Maine voters had largely forgiven him after he discussed his transformation openly, and said he had been screened for hate tattoos repeatedly without issue. He described a 'healthy' masculinity combining traditionally male pursuits with therapy and vulnerability, and criticized the 'manosphere.'
Platner said he would block all funding for the war with Iran, likened it to the Iraq War, and accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of using the military to compensate for insecurity about his own service record. He also discussed VA benefits, proposed an 'army of social workers' for veterans, and called for publicly funded, two-month elections, citing Thomas Paine.
Chapters
- 0:03
Introduction and latest controversy
Fadel introduces Platner and the report of explicit messages, his wife's defense, and his campaign's statement.
- 2:03
Labor and the Democratic Party
Platner explains why organized labor is central to his politics and why he runs as a Democrat despite criticizing the party.
- 5:30
Qualifications and working-class credentials
Platner defends his qualifications through military service and oyster farming and rebuts claims he is not a real working man.
- 10:36
Taxes, wealth and Jeff Bezos
Platner defines the working class and responds to Bezos's tax proposal, calling for taxing billionaire wealth.
- 15:59
Movement building and beating Susan Collins
Platner describes coalition building and his strategy against the 30-year incumbent.
- 20:59
Reddit posts and the tattoo
Platner addresses past posts and the skull tattoo, arguing voters forgave him and critics outside Maine don't matter.
- 26:03
Masculinity
Platner describes a healthy masculinity that embraces therapy and vulnerability and criticizes the manosphere.
- 33:44
Relations with the party establishment
Platner discusses calls from Chuck Schumer and argues his primary win vindicated his criticisms.
- 35:41
The Iran war and Pete Hegseth
Platner says he would block war funding, compares Iran to Iraq, and calls Hegseth insecure.
- 44:16
VA benefits
Platner deflects questions about his disability rating and proposes expanding VA outreach.
- 46:46
Political revolution
Platner calls for publicly funded short elections and cites Thomas Paine's revolutionary promise.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- Graham Platner
Platner argues that re-empowering organized labor is key to taking back democracy from corporate and billionaire interests.
“re-empowering organized labor is going to be one of the keys to building the power necessary to really take back our democracy from corporate interests”
- Graham Platner
Platner says working people would say the Democratic Party does not represent them, as reflected in polling.
“I think if you ask working people in this country, which they would say no, which is reflected in the polling at the moment”
- Graham Platner
Platner defines the working class as those living mainly on wages rather than income from hoarded wealth.
“If the bulk of the money that you get to – live comes from wages, comes from working, and you are not just sitting on an immense amount of hoarded wealth”
- Graham Platner
Platner argues taxes should be raised on the wealth of all U.S. billionaires, not just income, rebutting Jeff Bezos.
“We're raising it on all 930 billionaires in the United States. It's why we're also not just going after your income, but I think we have to go after the wealth as well”
- Graham Platner
Platner argues that past campaigns against Susan Collins failed because they were directed from Washington by the national party.
“the campaigns that have generally been run against Susan Collins have been directed from Washington, D.C. They've involved the National Party in many ways”
Listen from 18:46 · 2026 United States Senate election in Maine
- Graham Platner
Platner blames Susan Collins's 30-year tenure for unaffordable housing and the collapse of Maine's rural health care.
“She has been in charge for 30 years, and she has overseen a system that has brought us to the brink of collapse”
Listen from 19:08 · 2026 United States Senate election in Maine
- Graham Platner
Platner attributes voters' acceptance of his old Reddit posts mainly to forgiveness after he explained his transformation since his infantry years.
“Well, I think it's mostly forgiveness. Because when I explained it, I just pointed out that, look, I've not always been who I am today”
Listen from 22:04 · Graham Platner Reddit posts and tattoo controversy
- Graham Platner
Platner says his skull tattoo never raised concerns across 17 years, including repeated screenings for gang and hate tattoos.
“But for 17 years of my life, including getting screened for tattoos, never once came up”
Listen from 25:57 · Graham Platner Reddit posts and tattoo controversy
Linked moment · 26:25Skip to 26:25 using a listen link in the info box.
Graham PlatnerPlatner argues that using strength to dominate or offend others is cowardice rather than masculinity, criticizing the manosphere.
“this idea that you're supposed to use your strengths to use power over other people or to offend people, be mean to people, that somehow that's manly. That's not. That's the act of a coward”
- Graham Platner
Platner says Chuck Schumer called to congratulate him after the governor dropped out and they agreed beating Collins is the priority.
“And he congratulated me on a well-run race. We talked about how beating Susan Collins is the priority”
- Graham Platner
Platner says that as a senator he would block all possible funding for the Iran war.
“Blocking every bit of funding possible. We shouldn't send a single dollar for any of this nonsense”
- Graham Platner
Platner argues that the roughly $8 trillion spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars achieved nothing.
“We spent, it looks like in the end, it's going to be somewhere around $8 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for nothing”
- Graham Platner
Platner accuses Pete Hegseth of using the military to compensate for insecurity about his own military service.
“Pete Hegzeth is literally using the U.S. military to make up for the fact that he's insecure about his own military service”
- Graham Platner
Platner argues the Iran war cost $50 billion and 13 American lives merely to restore the pre-war status quo in the Strait of Hormuz.
“we just spent $50 billion, 13 dead Americans, thousands of dead people, gas prices soaring, a possible collapse of fertilizer industries just to get back to where we were?”
- Graham Platner
Platner recounts that he filed his first VA claim in 2013 and did not receive a final rating until the early 2020s.
“I think I filed my first claim in 2013, and it wasn't until the early 2020s that the VA finally gave me my final rating”
Listen from 44:43 · United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- Graham Platner
Platner proposes building an army of VA social workers to find veterans not receiving benefits they earned.
“building an army of social workers for the VA to go out into this country and find every single veteran who is not getting the benefits that they earned”
Listen from 44:43 · United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- Graham Platner
Platner advocates publicly funded elections lasting two months with no consultant class.
“If I have my way, elections will be publicly funded and they will last two months. And there will be no consultant class”
People
In the conversation
- Leila FadelNPR journalist and host of Up First and NPR's Newsmakers
- Graham PlatnerPresumptive Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine
Discussed
- Susan CollinsRepublican senator who noted Congress holds the power of the purse
- Pete HegsethU.S. Secretary of Defense overseeing the Iran campaign
- Jeff BezosFounder of Amazon
- Chuck SchumerSenate Democratic leader
- Jake AuchinclossDemocratic congressman from Massachusetts who criticized Platner's tattoo
- Chris Van HollenDemocratic U.S. senator from Maryland
- Rand PaulU.S. senator from Kentucky pursuing accountability for Anthony Fauci
- Elon MuskEntrepreneur behind X, xAI and SpaceX, discussed in AI competition
- Thomas PaineAmerican founding father and author of Common Sense
- Donald TrumpPresident of the United States whose conduct of the Iran war is the episode's main subject
Topics
- 2026 United States Senate election in Maine
- United States war with Iran
- Organized labor in the United States
- Wealth tax
- Graham Platner Reddit posts and tattoo controversy
- Masculinity
- Iraq War
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- Democratic Party (United States)
- Campaign finance in the United States
- Strait of Hormuz
- Common Sense (pamphlet)
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From the publisher
Anti-establishment candidate Graham Platner seemingly came out of nowhere to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for the Senate seat in Maine. But his campaign has been dogged by controversies. There were the old, deleted Reddit posts in which he made racist comments and blamed sexual assault on victims. There was a now-covered tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. And most recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women early in his marriage. Taken together, they raise a big question. Does he have too much baggage to carry on? Or can his anti-establishment political message — that has generated SO much enthusiasm among the democratic base — carry him through? In this episode of NPR’s Newsmakers , Platner addresses earlier controversies, the failures of his own party and calls Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “insecure.” Platner says he aspires to a version of masculinity different from the one embodied by Hegseth. “This idea that you're supposed to use your strengths to use power over other people or to offend people, be mean to people — that somehow that's manly. That's not masculinity,” he says. “That's the act of a coward.” Platner sat down with host Leila Fadel before news broke of the explicit sexual messages. NPR's Newsmakers is where you'll find NPR's biggest interviews. New episodes drop as soon as they're available -- any day of the week. To stay caught up, follow the show on Spotify, subscribe on YouTube, or find Newsmakers on the NPR app. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 28, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.