Activists behind Graham Platner’s rise admit vetting process didn’t bring up Nazi-linked tattoo

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Liberal activists who were behind Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign admitted that their vetting process did not pick up certain issues such as his controversial Nazi-linked tattoo.

Wall Street Journal reporter Aaron Zitner spoke to Daniel Moraff, Leanne Fan and Morris Katz, three activists who “handpicked” Platner to challenge Maine Sen. Susan Collins for her Senate seat ahead of the 2026 midterms. During the interview, which premiered on Sunday, Zitner asked about the vetting process after choosing to run with Platner.

“We paid a nice firm a whole chunk of money and got some stuff back,” Moraff said. “Some of what you’ve seen on the news we got back, other stuff we didn’t.”

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Democratic Senate candidate in Maine Graham Platner speaks to supporters in Portland

“Did the vetting process turn up the tattoo that became so controversial?” Zitner asked.

“No,” Moraff answered.

Zitner followed up by asking whether the vetting process brought up Platner’s controversial Reddit posts where he made comments demeaning women and mocking U.S. soldiers.

“The firm sent us a thing, and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of them,” Moraff said.

Despite the things he did see, Moraff insisted that none of Platner’s past comments “will or should stop him from becoming a U.S. senator.”

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Katz similarly defended running with Platner, claiming that he was a better option than the establishment.

In this photo provided by WGME, Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, points to a cover-up tattoo that had previously been an image recognized as a Nazi symbol, during an interview on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Portland, Maine.

“To me, the biggest risk the Democratic Party can take is continuing to do things the same way it’s done, that have ended us with a House minority, a Senate minority, and a second term of Donald Trump,” Katz said. “And I think we cannot be the party that is the party of the establishment, the party of the institution.”

He continued, “So, you know, constantly in the position of, ‘Hey, we know you’re being screwed by everyone in power, but let us just tinker around the edges there, and eventually it will get better.’ That’s an incoherent electoral strategy, and it’s failed to actually make things better to the degree they need to get better. And so I think there’s far less risk in running someone like Graham Platner than in running the same playbook.”

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Zitner revealed in the interview that The Wall Street Journal reached out to Moraff following Platner’s most recent scandals, including reports that he has sent explicit messages to several women while being married and that he displayed concerning behavior towards women he had previously dated.