A far-left Maine Democrat running for the U.S. Senate who proclaimed himself to be a “communist” in a since-deleted Reddit post also called for violence against what he called “fascism.”
Progressive Graham Platner is an oyster farmer who is challenging Gov. Janet Mills for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the 2026 mid-term elections.
This week, CNN mined the depths of Platner’s Reddit posts from 2020 and 2021, all of which had been deleted before he announced his candidacy, to find that he said he was a “communist” and that he called police officers “bastards. Cops are bastards. All of them, in fact.”
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner self-described as a literal communist in 2021 and threatened to kill “fascists” with guns pic.twitter.com/q2C1mdEdj6
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) October 17, 2025
Rural America came in for criticism when he responded to a post, titled “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” by writing, “Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.”
New deleted posts were obtained by Politico, including one that dates from 2018. A Reddit user was asking what the reaction to the purchase of an AR-15 might be.
“Tell them that if they expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history,” Platner wrote then.
In another 2018 post, Platner said he “agreed” with a 1914 quote from socialist Eugene V. Debs that workers should be armed or be “willing to be forced into abject slavery.”
Will Maine voters elect Platner?
“That’s why this poster and the Debs quote that follows above should be shared far and wide. An armed working class is a requirement for economic justice,” Platner said.
In September of that same year, Platner advised liberals to “Get Armed, Get Organized. The Other Side Sure As Hell Is.”
Planter told Politico what he said then is across a wide chasm of time from where he is now.
“As I told CNN, I was f***ing around on the internet at a time when I felt lost and very disillusioned with our government who sent me overseas to watch my friends die,” said Platner, a former Marine.
“I made dumb jokes and picked fights. But of course I’m not a socialist. I’m a small business owner, a Marine Corps veteran, and a retired s***poster.”
WGME-TV joined in the hunt through Platner’s old Reddit posts and noted that in 2013, Platner responded to a post asking, “What is one question you have always wanted to ask someone of another race,” with “Why don’t black people tip?”
“I work as a bartender and it always amazes me how solid this stereotype is,” he wrote then. “Every now and again a black patron will leave a 15-20% tip, but usually it [is] between 0-5%. There’s got to be a reason behind it, what is it?”
Mills said she had not read what Platner wrote, but at a news conference, the posts published by CNN were read to her, according to the Bangor Daily News.
“Obviously, I would strongly disagree with those comments,” Mills said.
Democratic Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said the comments could hurt Democrats, according to NewsCenterMaine.
“Some may dismiss this as nothing to see here,” Fecteau said in a statement. “However, others might read these comments and conclude the online musings of Graham are a liability.”
“Republicans would use the ‘rural people are racist and stupid’ line not just as an attack against Graham Platner but against Democrats up and down the ticket. We have to keep that in mind.”
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