Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner Cited PTSD Both to Excuse and Reject Online Behavior

Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has cited his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder to explain a series of offensive social media posts made before he entered the race for U.S. Senate in Maine. The posts, many of which were later deleted, included statements justifying political violence, insulting law enforcement and other remarks.

Platner, a Marine and Army veteran who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has described the period after leaving the Army in 2012 as one in which he felt unmoored, disillusioned and isolated. "This was a time in my life where I was struggling deeply," Platner said in a video posted to social media in late 2025.

One officer, a Marine veteran deployed to Afghanistan, attributed his actions to PTSD. "Don’t buy into that bull----. I did 4 tours in the infantry to Iraq and Afghanistan, saw all kinds of awful things, have a PTSD diagnosis and STILL manage not to beat defenseless animals to death for fun," Platner wrote.

" The 2020 post was obtained by Fox News Digital. Platner’s activity on r/SocialistRA and other Reddit forums was first reported by CNN. All of the posts in question were deleted months before he began his Senate campaign.

Other since-deleted posts attributed to Platner include a 2013 comment on a video about underwear designed to prevent rape, a 2018 statement that appeared to justify political violence for economic justice, and remarks calling white people in rural America racist and stupid while labeling all law enforcement officers bastards.

" Platner has also faced questions about a chest tattoo of a Nazi-linked symbol that he received in 2007 while serving with Marines in Croatia. He has said he did not initially know the symbol’s meaning, later covered it up and expressed remorse for some of his past online activity.

The presumptive Democratic nominee has argued that the statements from years ago do not represent who he is today. He has tied the remarks to the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life after combat deployments he eventually came to oppose. Platner told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday that backlash from the past posts would not stop his campaign’s momentum.

He also said negative advertising by the campaign of Gov. Janet Mills, who dropped out of the Democratic primary in late April, failed to hurt him with voters. "The Democratic establishment tried to use all those attacks against me and failed miserably," Platner said.