Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner on Friday apologized for controversial comments he made on Reddit more than a decade ago, saying they reflected an earlier version of himself who was “struggling deeply.”
“As I read through them, I read things that I absolutely do not agree with. I read through and I see words and statements that I abhor. I also see the trajectory of my life,” Platner said in a video posted to social media.
The Reddit comments unearthed in recent days included his calling rural, white Americans “racist” and “stupid” and describing all police as “bastards” in 2021, asking why Black people “don’t tip” in 2013 and suggesting, in a post related to rape, that people should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f—-ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?”
On Friday, Platner, a Marine and Army veteran, said he had recently returned from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan where he was immersed in the “very masculine” culture of the military.
“Some of the worst comments I made, the things that I think are least defensible, that I wouldn’t even try to defend, come from that time,” he said. “I had PTSD, I had depression. I had all the things that come with serving in two wars that I eventually came to not believe in at all.”
The time left him feeling disillusioned, alienated and isolated, he said. “And I think like a lot of people I went on the internet to post stupid things and get in fights and still find some sort of community.”
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 17, 2025
Moving back to his hometown, starting a business, falling in love and finding “real community” in the years that followed replaced his disillusionment with hope, he said.
“While I won’t defend things I said in the past, I will just say that if it wasn’t for that entire journey, I would not be who I am today, and I’m incredibly proud of who I am today.”
In the days since Platner’s Reddit comments were published by national and local media, his political director resigned, and his top competitors in the Democratic primary and general election, Janet Mills and Susan Collins, have each made critical statements.