Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate in Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race, just found himself at the center of a firestorm, and it’s all about a tattoo he got nearly two decades ago. In an unusual move, Platner decided to get ahead of damaging opposition research by appearing on the liberal podcast “Pod Save America” to explain himself. He shared a video from his brother’s wedding about a decade ago, which showed him shirtless and dancing, clearly revealing a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest.
The problem, according to leading Jewish organizations, is that this isn’t just any skull; it bears a striking resemblance to the Nazi “Totenkopf,” a symbol forever linked to some of the most brutal units of Hitler’s regime. For a political newcomer who had been gaining surprising momentum, the controversy is the latest in a series of setbacks that are testing his campaign.
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Platner’s explanation is one of youthful ignorance and military camaraderie. He says he got the tattoo in 2007 while on a third deployment with the U.S. Marines. During some short-term leave in Split, Croatia, he and his fellow Marines got “very inebriated” and decided to get inked. “We chose a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” Platner told the podcast hosts.
He insists that the thought it could be a hate symbol never crossed his mind, a point he says is backed up by the fact that military doctors who later reviewed his tattoos for service never flagged it under rules that prohibit extremist symbols. Following the backlash, he has stated he is “already planning to get this removed.”
Graham Platner’s Symbol with a Dark and Troubling History
The specific symbol in question is known as the “Totenkopf,” which is German for “death’s head.” This isn’t the playful skull you might see on a pirate flag; this particular symbol carries the heavy weight of history. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which tracks hate symbols, this was adopted by the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the paramilitary unit tasked with guarding Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
It was also the namesake for the 3rd SS “Totenkopf” Panzer Division, which committed numerous war crimes. Because of its direct association with the units that perpetrated the Holocaust, this particular skull and crossbones imagery has been classified as a hate symbol and is often used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists today.
Images show Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, a self-described socialist, with a tattoo that appears to be a “Totenkopf,” a Nazi-era symbol.
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The reaction from the Jewish community has been swift and concerned. Jessica Cohen, a spokesperson for the ADL, commented, “This appears to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one.” She did, however, acknowledge that people sometimes get tattoos without understanding their hateful associations, and in those cases, the key question is whether the person repudiates its meaning.
Graham Platner has forcefully done so, stating, “I am not a secret Nazi.” Yet, not everyone is convinced. His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned just last week over Platner’s other controversial Reddit posts, publicly doubted his story. “Platner prides himself on his extensive knowledge of military history,” she said. “While he may not have known what his tattoo meant when he selected the image, it is not plausible he remained ignorant of its meaning all these years.” Her skepticism was echoed by a former acquaintance from Washington, D.C., who claimed that Platner had referred to the tattoo as “my Totenkopf” in a casual conversation back in 2012.
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This tattoo controversy lands at a terrible time for Platner’s campaign. It comes right on the heels of another major disruption: the surfacing of old, inflammatory Reddit posts he made between 2013 and 2021. In those posts, he questioned why Black people “don’t tip,” suggested that people concerned about r*pe should avoid being inebriated around strangers, and called police officers “b**tards.” The fallout from those posts led directly to the resignation of McDonald, a key staffer. The combined weight of these revelations poses the first real challenge to the insurgent campaign that had, until recently, drawn large crowds and raised millions of dollars.
With popular Maine Governor Janet Mills now also in the Senate race, Graham Platner’s bid to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins is facing its most intense scrutiny yet, proving that in modern politics, your past—from your online comments to the ink on your skin—can come back to define your future in ways you never expected.
