Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner is under renewed scrutiny after newly resurfaced online posts revealed vulgar comments about masturbation in portable toilets and crude graffiti discussions tied to a Reddit account he has acknowledged was his.
The posts, highlighted this week by Fox News, are the latest controversy surrounding Platner as the Maine Democrat tries to position himself as a populist challenger to longtime Sen. Susan Collins in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races.
According to the report, Platner responded to a 2017 discussion on Reddit’s military forum by writing, “I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a portas—-er… that blue water smell conditioned me.”
In another post from 2021, Platner reportedly described sexually explicit graffiti he encountered inside a portable toilet while deployed overseas.
The comments were linked to the Reddit account “P-Hustle,” which Platner previously admitted belonged to him after earlier controversies erupted over years of inflammatory posts.
Past comments tied to the account included remarks about race, sexual assault victims, and political violence, along with anti-gay slurs and other inflammatory statements that triggered backlash from both Republicans and Democrats in Maine.
Platner has repeatedly apologized for the posts and said many of them were written during a dark period after returning from military service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I was never a racist or a bigot, but I was downright confrontational, rude, and mean in my early days on here,” Platner said in a video addressing the controversy.
The Democrat has argued the comments do not reflect who he is today, pointing to therapy, family life, and business success as evidence that he changed over the years.
He has also faced criticism over a tattoo critics claimed resembled Nazi imagery. Platner said he later covered the tattoo after learning about the alleged connection.
Republicans have seized on the steady drip of resurfaced posts as a major vulnerability for the first-time candidate, arguing the comments raise serious questions about his judgment and temperament.
GOP strategist Colin Reed told Fox News the issue has become a broader “character” concern as more posts continue to emerge.
Despite the controversy, Platner has built a loyal grassroots following among progressive voters and raised significant money online, helping turn him into a serious contender in Maine’s Democratic primary battle.
Still, the latest revelations threaten to hand Republicans fresh ammunition as Democrats look for a candidate capable of unseating Collins in 2026.
