Is there anyone you know who has never gotten a Nazi tattoo? Someone who’s never posted sexist and homophobic drivel on internet message forums? A person who, in spite of the inevitable temptations that come with inhabiting a human body in a monogamous relationship, has never engaged in secret extramarital sexting?

I bet you know quite a few of these people. I do, too. None of them are saints, and they’re not necessarily Goody Two-shoes. It’s just not that uncommon or difficult to go through life without engaging in these kinds of morally suspect behaviors.

Graham Platner would have us believe otherwise. Every time the Senate candidate from Maine has been called to account for past offenses and personal indiscretions that have come to light, the Platner campaign has brushed them off as low-stakes mistakes that have no bearing on his qualifications for political office.

Platner said he didn’t realize for nearly two decades, until the middle of his Senate run, that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol. “I don’t look at this as a liability,” he shrugged. The crude Reddit posts were from “a time in my life where I was struggling deeply,” he explained, and part of a “whole journey that got me here.”

The most recent Platner scandal arose this weekend, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, disclosed to a campaign aide in 2025 that she had found sexually explicit text messages to other women on his phone. The sexting to between 6 and 12 women reportedly ended before the campaign began, and the couple worked through the betrayal in counseling.

In response, Platner and Gertner have raged at media outlets for publishing the story and at the two campaign staffers, one former and one current, who spoke to reporters. Platner called it “journalistic malpractice” and refused to confirm the story, only allowing that he and his wife “went through something hard—because of me.” In a video statement released by the campaign, Gertner said she found it “really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip.” Implying that Platner’s........

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