Six Women, One Nazi Tattoo, and a Tweet Blaming the Jews. The Democrats Are Still In.

Issue No. 15 | June 2026

Graham Platner is the Democratic Party’s nominee in waiting for the United States Senate seat from Maine. The primary is June 9, 2026, which is six days from the day this issue goes out. As of this morning, the leader of his party in the Senate, every prominent progressive in Washington with a microphone, and most of the people who claim to care about American character have all decided that a man with a Nazi paramilitary tattoo on his chest, a sexting scandal involving at least six women, and an antisemitic tweet sent less than 48 hours ago is the candidate they want carrying their flag.

This is not satire. This is the Democratic Party of June 2026.

On Monday, June 1, Platner’s official campaign account posted on X that “Senator Collins is bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu, and she votes accordingly.” The complaint, in plain English, was that Susan Collins accepts donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The translation, also in plain English, is the oldest libel in Western politics: the Jews control your senator (Wall Street Journal, RedState).

That tweet was the third scandal in a 30 day stretch. In October 2025, photos and video surfaced showing Platner with a chest tattoo that the Anti-Defamation League and The Maine Monitor identified as a Totenkopf, the skull-and-crossbones emblem of the Nazi SS-Totenkopfverbande, the unit that ran the concentration camps. Platner said he got it drunk in Croatia in 2007 and did not know what it was. A former top campaign staffer said he absolutely did (The Maine Monitor, Politico). On May 30, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner’s own wife, Amy Gertner, had flagged sexually explicit text messages between her husband and roughly half a dozen other women to the campaign’s political director during the candidate vetting period (Wall Street Journal, New York Times).

A Nazi tattoo. Texts to six other women that his wife sent to his own campaign. A blame-the-Jews tweet aimed at the only senator currently standing between Donald Trump and a rubber stamp Senate. And yesterday, June 2, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood in front of cameras and doubled down on his endorsement. “As I said, I endorsed Graham Platner,” Schumer told reporters. “We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate” (Fox News via Facebook, Politico).

That is where the Democratic Party is in June 2026.

What the Centercratic Party Stands For

The Centercratic Party rests on nine governing principles. Four of them are buried under what is happening in Maine right now.

The first reads: “Safeguard Our Democratic System. Govern through compromise, not domination. Reject extreme tactics by special interests and defend the Constitution for everyone.” Sticking with Platner is not a defense of the Constitution. It is a rejection of every basic vetting standard a party is supposed to apply to a person seeking lifetime entry into the world’s most powerful legislature.

The fifth reads: “Debate with Facts and Dignity. Conduct fact-based debates with respect. Acknowledge disagreements. Prohibit personal attacks and bad-faith tactics.” Posting “bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu” about a sitting United States senator is not a fact. It is the dual-loyalty smear that has been used against Jews and people who support Jews for two thousand years, dressed up as a campaign tweet.

The sixth reads: “Seek Unity through Broad Support. Build policies that earn broad, lasting support.” When Sen. Bernie Sanders responds to a sexting scandal by saying “maybe as a nation we focus on issues more important than the Platner marriage,” and Sen. Ruben Gallego defends the candidate by saying he has “lived a very, you know, real experience,” they are not building broad, lasting support. They are telling everyone outside their narrow progressive base that nothing this man does is disqualifying as long as his policy positions are correct (Wall Street Journal).

The eighth reads: “Defend Our Freedom. Unite with allies to deter aggression and defend free nations against military, cyber, and economic threats.” Israel is one of those allies. A candidate with a Nazi unit tattoo who responds to scrutiny by blaming his opponent’s vote on “Benjamin Netanyahu” is not defending that alliance. He is testing whether anyone in his party is willing to enforce the principle.

Four principles, one candidate, and a Senate primary six days away.

What Happens When a Party Has No Floor

Here is what we know, from reporting in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, ABC News, PBS NewsHour, The Maine Monitor, and Jewish Insider, all sources we have linked in this piece.

We know Platner got a tattoo of the SS-Totenkopf, the Death’s Head insignia worn by the unit that guarded Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, and the rest. We know he says it was a drunken accident in Croatia in 2007 and he never knew what it meant. We know an acquaintance told Jewish Insider that Platner himself referred to it as “my Totenkopf” (Politico). We know his former campaign political director, Genevieve McDonald, wrote on Facebook, “Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.” We know that in October 2025 he announced he would cover it, then admitted there was no place in rural Maine to remove it, then chose a cover-up design instead (PBS NewsHour).

We know that on May 30, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner’s wife had taken sexually explicit text messages from his phone, involving roughly half a dozen women, and brought them to the campaign’s then-political director, Genevieve McDonald, during the Labor Day weekend Bernie Sanders rally last year (Wall Street Journal). We know that when a reporter asked Platner directly if the story was true, he answered, “No, no. This is the amazing part. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer. I’m sorry, that’s frankly journalistic malpractice.” We know that when the reporter pressed him on whether he was confirming the messages did not exist, he pivoted to saying that what McDonald told the Times “is not true.” We know that his own wife told ABC News she stood by him and that they were in counseling (ABC News).

We know that on June 1, his official campaign account posted the AIPAC tweet, and that as of June 3 it has not been deleted.

We know that Sen. Schumer endorsed him publicly even after the tattoo story broke, and reaffirmed that endorsement the day after the AIPAC tweet (Politico). We know Sen. Bernie Sanders held hands with him at a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally in Portland on May 25 and has continued to back him after each scandal (Fox News). We know Sen. Elizabeth Warren is still with him. We know Sen. Ruben Gallego, asked on national television about the sexting reports, said Platner has “lived a very, you know, real experience” (Wall Street Journal).

We know Sen. Chris Murphy went on Face the Nation, was asked plainly whether Platner passes the character test, and answered, “Yeah, I mean I have not followed this story as closely as others have, but Graham Platner is somebody who served our country. He served his community. He’s also made mistakes and he has admitted that” (Washington Examiner). A United States senator was asked, on camera, whether a candidate with a Nazi tattoo and a six-woman sexting paper trail passes a character test, and his answer began with “I have not followed this story as closely as others have.” That sentence should be on a coffee mug in the Centercratic Party online store.

We know Sen. Cory Booker, the morning after the WSJ texts story broke, said on television, “I have concerns. That guy has questions to answer” (Washington Examiner, YouTube). We know Sen. John Fetterman, on June 2, became the first sitting Senate Democrat to publicly condemn Platner over the scandals (CNN via Facebook). We know Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts called the tattoo “personally disqualifying” weeks ago (Fox News).

Two Democratic senators willing to say the obvious. Three willing to defend the indefensible. One leader of the caucus doubling down. That is the floor of the modern Democratic Party in June 2026, and it is underground.

What is most painful is the response from the rank and file. In the comment thread on the Wall Street Journal editorial that ran yesterday, a reader named David Gronek wrote, “The fact that this guy made these texts doesn’t bother me near as much as the fact that he lies about them. The same way he lies about his tattoo and his knowledge of what it means.” A reader using the handle RM Marinace replied, “What about it has he lied about? He’s been very up front, and he and his wife are admitting to counseling for the issues he deals with in their marriage that are directly related to his service in our military” (Wall Street Journal Free Expression).

That is not one staffer. That is a voter. A voter who reads about a Nazi unit tattoo, a six-woman sexting trail, a wife who turned the texts in to the campaign herself, an AIPAC dog-whistle tweet, and a candidate who calls the New York Times reporting “journalistic malpractice,” and who responds: what has he lied about? That voter is going to walk into a polling place on June 9, and that voter is not alone.

Once Again

This is what tribal voting looks like at its terminal stage. A candidate’s morality, his honesty, his judgment, even the literal symbol of the regime that murdered six million Jews on his chest, none of it matters as long as he has the right letter after his name and the right opponent in the other column.

Democrats are doing what Republicans did with Roy Moore in 2017, what Republicans did with George Santos in 2022, what Republicans have done with Donald Trump every year since 2015. They are looking at a candidate they know has no business near a Senate seat, doing the math, and deciding that the seat is worth the man. The Wall Street Journal editorial board, hardly a friend of organized labor or single payer healthcare, named the rot accurately: “Their choice will also be a measure of how willing the Democratic Party is to indulge the ugly anti-Israel sentiment curdling in American politics” (Wall Street Journal).

Once again, our parties have failed us. The Republicans gave us a movement that absorbs every disgrace as long as the disgrace is on the winning team. The Democrats are now showing the country that they will do the same, in real time, in plain sight, for a Senate seat in a state with 1.4 million people. There is no party left that will simply say, “This man is not qualified. Find another.” That sentence used to be the most ordinary thing in American politics. In June 2026, it is the rarest.

We have to save our democracy before it is too late, because nobody inside either tent is going to do it for us. Six women, one Nazi tattoo, one AIPAC tweet, and a Senate primary on Tuesday. The Democrats are still in. The voters now decide whether the party has any floor at all, or whether the floor has finally given way for good.

That is the wave.

The CenterWave is published by CenterVoter, the home of the Centercratic Party. Visit centercratic.party | centervoter.com