Platner’s covered-up Nazi tattoo should be ‘disqualifying’ in his Senate bid, Mass. congressman says
Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss waded into the Senate race in Maine on Monday, telling CNN that fellow Democrat Graham Platner’s covered-up Nazi tattoo is “disqualifying” in his bid for the seat.
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“I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat. said in remarks to CNN, as reported by The Hill.
Auchincloss, who is Jewish, told CNN he hoped Maine voters agree with him.
“I think it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner’s brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country,” Auchincloss said.
Platner, a former Marine trying to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, has said he had no idea the skull and crossbones design, or Totenkopf, was a symbol on Nazi uniforms when he was inked in Croatia in 2007 while on shore leave with other service members.
He has since had the tattoo covered up.
The Platner campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on Auchincloss’s remarks.
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It’s not the first time Auchincloss has taken aim at Platner, an oyster farmer running a decidedly populist campaign backed by left-wing lawmakers Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
In October, Auchincloss called for Platner to drop out of the race; Platner has since all but clinched the Democratic nomination after Governor Janet Mills, the establishment’s preferred candidate, recently bowed out of the primary amid dismal polling numbers.
“I think we should have high standards for United States senators and one of them is you don’t have a Nazi tattoo on your body,” Auchincloss said in October in an interview with WCVB-TV.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated when more information is released.
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