In Bizarre Debate to Replace Platner, Not One Candidate Criticizes His Nazi Tattoo and Other Red Flags

In a debate between eight candidates seeking to be the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, none critiqued his Nazi tattoo or allegations women have made against him.

A beleaguered Platner dropped out of the race after pressure from top Democratic officials who urged him to withdraw.

If any candidate were expected to criticize Platner for his Nazi tattoo and the need to learn from such bad behavior, it might have been Shenna Bellows, Maine’s first female Secretary of State who served as executive director of the Holocaust & Human Rights Center in Maine from 2018-20. But she had no criticism for the former candidate.

During the debate, she stated that she was seeing “the harm of October 7 and seeing the harm that what Netanyahu is doing in Gaza is genocide.”

The closest any candidate came to criticizing Platner was when Jordan Wood, a former chief of staff to Congresswoman Katie Porter, said of Platner, “I could see he was not being truthful.” Wood gave no specifics about what he was referring to and the moderators did not ask him to elaborate. He did say that a great thing he learned from Platner was to use the word “genocide” in describing Israel’s military response in Gaza, but he gave no explanation about this or any facts to support the claim.

Much of the media attention focused on candidates who looked unprepared, like Ashley Webb, who cited being a songwriter as a qualification for the Senate, and Elizabeth Dickenson, who needed to read notes from a book. Dan Kleban cited the fact that he runs a beer company and gets parts from Germany as qualifying him for the Senate.

Troy Jackson, a logger and longtime politician, has emerged as the frontrunner against Republican Susan Collins. A lot of money will come in to support him, and he will likely complain about AIPAC as Platner did. Collins is a moderate Republican who supports Israel and voted to impeach President Donald Trump. She has had to deal with people shouting outside her offices. Jackson is expected to be endorsed by the Maine Democratic Socialists of America.

It has been alleged that Jackson threw a water bottle at a woman, but that is unlikely to make a difference. While it is expected that Democrats will win the House, Senate races are expected to be extremely competitive, with all eyes on Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maine. Had a Politico story including a rape allegation against Platner not run, he likely would still have been the nominee.