The former political director of Democrat Graham Platner’s Senate campaign is publicly turning on her ex-boss just hours before Maine voters head to the polls, accusing the candidate of knowingly misleading supporters about his controversial Nazi-linked tattoo and exhibiting what she called “a pattern of dishonest behavior.”
In a blistering op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post, former Maine state representative Genevieve McDonald said she walked away from Platner’s campaign after discovering what she described as deeply troubling conduct and mounting concerns about the candidate’s judgment.
“Taking the job meant leaving a position as a senior policy adviser at a government relations firm in the state, but I thought that Platner and I shared the same goal: fighting for the working people of Maine,” McDonald wrote. “I quit the campaign in October, disturbed by what I learned about the candidate and concerned about his potential impact on the Democratic Party’s prospects in my home state.”
McDonald said Platner warned her in September that he had a “problematic” tattoo that might raise questions, but dismissed it at the time as merely “a military thing.”
“I believed him,” she wrote. “Then, I began receiving calls from Washington warning me he was not who he seemed: ‘Have you read his oppo file?’ I had not. I trusted that his out-of-state consulting team had thoroughly vetted him.”
Her account appears to reinforce previous reporting from The New York Times alleging Platner understood the meaning behind the tattoo, which resembles the “Totenkopf” symbol associated with Nazi Germany’s SS units.
The controversy has dogged the Democrat for months, particularly after resurfaced Reddit comments from 2013 showed Platner appearing to downplay sexual assault allegations. McDonald said those revelations ultimately pushed her to resign from the campaign.
After leaving, she claims she rejected a $15,000 nondisclosure agreement offer.
McDonald also took aim at progressive allies who have continued defending Platner despite the growing controversy, including Bernie Sanders, who previously shrugged off concerns by saying, “Is he a saint? I guess not. I don’t know too many saints here.”
“His comment reflects one of the deepest problems in American politics today. We have learned to excuse what we should condemn,” McDonald wrote.
She also suggested Maine Democrats still have an escape hatch if Platner wins Tuesday’s primary but later exits the race.
“There are two other named candidates on Tuesday’s ballot,” she wrote. “If Platner wins the nomination but later withdraws, Maine Democrats can hold a convention and choose a different nominee.”
Republicans are already signaling they intend to make Platner’s controversies a centerpiece of the general election campaign if he becomes the Democratic nominee against incumbent Susan Collins.
Read the op-ed over at WaPo:
Democracy dies in darkness.
Thank you to the @washingtonpost for the opportunity to share my experience in my own words. Thank you to my friends who have stood by me, and to my daughters who inspire me. https://t.co/JgNTVxBWqa
— Genevieve McDonald (@Genevieve_207) June 8, 2026
