Warren endorses Platner in Maine Senate primary after Mills rips him for remarks on rape

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts endorsed Graham Platner’s Senate bid in Maine on Thursday, offering him some political cover just days after Gov. Janet Mills launched an ad targeting his past online comments about women and rape.

Ms. Warren joins Sens. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico in backing Mr. Platner for the June 9 primary. It puts them on the opposite side of the high-profile Democratic primary from Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who is backing Ms. Mills along with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

“Graham Platner is going to flip Maine and then actually deliver change for working people in the Senate,” Ms. Warren said. “He’s a combat veteran, an oyster farmer, and has inspired people with his populist agenda for a government on the side of working families — not the billionaires and giant corporations.”

Mr. Platner, 41, who served in the Marine Corps and is a political newcomer, and Ms. Mills, a 78-year-old staple of Maine politics, are vying for the chance to face Sen. Susan Collins in the November election. Democrats need to flip the seat — one of their few pickup opportunities — to have any chance of winning back the Senate.

The endorsement from Ms. Warren, who has long cast herself as a warrior for women’s rights, comes as the race has turned more combative, with Ms. Mills signaling she’s ready to fight.

Trailing in both polling and fundraising, Ms. Mills rolled out her first negative TV ad targeting Mr. Platner this week. The spot featured women responding with disgust to Mr. Platner’s 2013 Reddit posts.

Ms. Mills, trailing in both polling and fundraising, rolled out her first negative TV ad this week featuring women responding with disgust to Mr. Platner’s 2013 Reddit posts.

“Do you know Graham Platner wrote that women worried about rape need to ’not get so f—-ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to,’” the narrator says in the ad, which includes a voice-over meant to sound like Mr. Platner and women accusing him of victim-blaming. “Platner wrote, to avoid rape, women should, quote, ’Act like an adult for f—-’s sake.’”

The ad closes with footage of a shirtless Mr. Platner bearing a chest tattoo resembling a Totenkopf — a skull-and-crossbones symbol associated with the Nazi police.

Mr. Platner had the tattoo covered in October, saying he got it in 2007 while on leave in Croatia after a night of drinking and was unaware until recently of its Nazi connotations.

“Graham Platner: The closer you look, the worse it gets,” a narrator says.

Mr. Platner pushed back within hours, launching his own TV ad asking Maine voters “not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet 14 years ago.”

His campaign manager, Ben Chin, called the Mills ad “a desperate attempt for relevance from the governor, who is trailing an oyster farmer in every recent poll.”

At a press conference flanked by women supporters, Mr. Platner apologized again for the past “awful” remarks, saying he was horrified by them when they resurfaced late last year and that he was “struggling to find meaning” after serving in the Marines.

“But it does not in any way reflect who I am today — or the beliefs that I hold,” Mr. Platner said.

The Washington Times sent Ms. Warren a request for comment about Mr. Platner’s remarks about rape.

In the 2013 Reddit posts at the center of the issue, Mr. Platner — who around that time had worked as a bartender in Washington — vented about people who get drunk and make bad decisions.

“Holy f—-, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f—-ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?” he said. “Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self-control.”

“So if you don’t want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for f—- sake,” he said. “Rape is a real thing, if you’re so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear you’d think you might not get blacked out and f—-ed up around people you aren’t comfortable with.”