Graham Platner’s campaign for Maine’s Democratic Senate primary is imploding faster than a house of cards in a windstorm, according to The Daily Caller.
The turmoil surrounding Platner, a candidate challenging the establishment-favored Gov. Janet Mills, has seen a string of high-profile resignations, controversial past statements, and a fundraising juggernaut now teetering on the edge.
Let’s rewind to August 2025, when Platner’s campaign kicked off with a bang, raking in over $3.2 million in donations within six weeks and securing a glowing endorsement from Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Fast forward to October 2025, and the cracks started showing when old Reddit posts surfaced, revealing Platner’s troubling remarks on sexual assault in the military, political violence, and offensive comments about Black individuals, alongside a self-identification as a communist.
Platner issued an apology, claiming these posts were from a dark period in his life, but the damage was done—his political director, Genevieve McDonald, resigned citing her inability to ignore those past statements.
As if that wasn’t enough, a video emerged showing a chest tattoo some linked to Nazi symbolism, though Platner denied the connection and has since covered it with a new design.
By late October, at a town hall event in Ogunquit, Maine, Platner was still trying to rally support, introduced by his mother, Leslie Harlow, at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025.
But the hits kept coming—his campaign manager, Kevin Brown, quit after less than a week on the job, signaling deeper unrest within the team.
Then, on November 1, 2025, national finance director Ronald Holmes dropped the bombshell of his resignation via LinkedIn, after joining the campaign just three months earlier in August.
Holmes, who previously served as deputy campaign manager for New York Rep. Josh Riley’s successful 2024 bid, didn’t mince words about his departure.
“I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things,” he wrote.
Let’s be real—when a seasoned operative like Holmes walks away citing a mismatch in “standards,” it’s a polite way of saying the ship is sinking.
“Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign,” Holmes continued. If that’s not a red flag for voters wary of progressive overreach and moral inconsistency, what is?
A spokesperson for Platner’s campaign tried to downplay the loss, stating, “Ron helped the campaign reach out to big dollar donors, and we appreciated his efforts.” But let’s not kid ourselves—losing a finance director amid a scandal storm isn’t just a hiccup; it’s a full-blown crisis for a campaign that’s already bleeding staff.
The campaign boasted that nearly 90% of its funds came from small-dollar and online donors, suggesting grassroots support remains strong despite the controversies. Yet, one has to wonder if those everyday donors knew about the Reddit posts or tattoo debacle when they clicked “donate.”