Maine Democratic Senate candidate endorsed by Bernie Sanders displays Nazi-era tattoo

The image was also associated with the division that guarded concentration camps during World War II.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing growing backlash after admitting that a Nazi-era tattoo on his chest has been part of his body art for nearly 20 years.

Platner, endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, remains a leading Democratic contender in a race that is expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran acknowledged the tattoo after a video he shared on the progressive podcast “Pod Save America” showed him shirtless with a skull-and-crossbones emblem resembling the Totenkopf, a symbol worn by Nazi SS officers.

The image was also associated with the division that guarded concentration camps during World War II.

Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 while stationed overseas with the Marines, claiming he was drunk and unaware of its meaning.

“We were on shore leave in Croatia and decided to get tattoos,” he told host Tommy Vietor. “We picked a scary-looking skull off the wall. I am not a secret Nazi.” He said he later received full security clearance to work as a State Department contractor and described himself as “a lifelong opponent of antisemitism and racism.”

The controversy erupted days after old Reddit posts resurfaced in which Platner made racially charged remarks and declared himself a Communist.

His campaign director, former state Senator Genevieve McDonald, resigned following the revelations, later accusing Platner of poor judgment for displaying the tattoo publicly. “Maybe he didn’t know what it meant when he got it, but he knows damn well what it means now,” she wrote on Facebook.

The Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine expressed alarm, calling the Totenkopf “a death’s head symbol used by the SS” and urging Platner to denounce it unequivocally.

The group also criticized his campaign rhetoric, saying his repeated focus on rejecting donations from the pro-Israel group AIPAC echoed harmful tropes.

Platner has refused to drop out, despite new reporting suggesting he once referred to the tattoo as “my Totenkopf” and socialized with men linked to neo-Nazi circles.

While some progressives have withdrawn support, a few left-wing commentators defended him, calling the outrage excessive.