Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is abandoning the appearance of 2026 neutrality as controversies pile up around progressive candidate Graham Platner.
Why it matters: The Maine Senate primary race is a full-fledged fight between the party's establishment and its left wing.
- Schumer favors Maine Gov. Janet Mills to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, as Axios previously reported. But he had avoided a public endorsement in the competitive race.
- That flew out the window Tuesday, when Schumer said Mills "is the best candidate to retire Susan Collins."
The other side: "This is the establishment backing the establishment," a Platner spokesperson told Axios. "Graham was never going to win this race because he had the DC establishment behind him. He's going to win because he has Mainers behind him."
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told Axios on Tuesday that Platner, "like many others, went through a dark period in his life, said things that he regrets. ... He has apologized for them."
- "Nothing against Governor Mills, but we need people to come to Washington who are prepared to stand up and fight, not be part of the establishment," Sanders told Axios.
Zoom in: Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine veteran, welcomed Mills to the race last week with an ad saying voters should "shuck" the 77-year-old governor.
But it's his campaign that has taken the blows in the days since.
- "I am not a secret Nazi," Platner told "Pod Save America" Monday night in an interview about his chest tattoo. It looks like a Totenkopf, a specific skull-and-crossbones image that was a symbol of Adolf Hitler's SS.
- Platner said he was drunk when he got the tattoo on deployment, along with fellow Marines.
- He's apologized for offensive posts about sexual assault victims, police officers and rural white people. And he has said his questions about Black people tipping were sincere curiosity.
Go deeper: Dem Senate candidate embraced "antifa supersoldier" label
