Rep Jake Auchincloss faces bipartisan backlash after softening Graham Platner criticism

A House Democrat faced backlash from across the political spectrum after toning down his criticism of Graham Platner, the Democrats’ considered candidate for Maine Senate.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., initially spark anger “I hope Maine voters agree with me,” he said on the left when he condemned Platner’s Nazi-related tattoo.

But Platner’s opponent, Sen. After announcing that she would not support Susan Collins, R-Maine — who also backtracked from her previous call for Maine voters to oppose Platner — Auchincloss found himself under fire from both sides.

Platner has faced increasing scrutiny since revealing last year that he had a black skull and crossbones tattoo, which he said he got while drinking while on leave during a Marine Corps deployment in Croatia and did not recognize at the time as a Nazi symbol.

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“Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst executive in history. Any claims that I would support her, indirectly or otherwise, ignore my track record of supporting Democrats to take back both chambers,” Auchincloss wrote on social media Tuesday. “As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his comment about it personally disqualifying. If it were me, I would vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”

“No matter what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate, and I will continue to work hard to make that happen,” he added.

Left-wing journalist Peter Beinart said: “This is completely inconsistent. The race is between Platner and Collins.”

“If @JakeAuch opposes both, then he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator,” he continued. “And if he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator, he doesn’t really care if Democrats take the Senate.”

Progressive commentator Rachel Bitecofer mocked Jewish Democrat Auchincloss for focusing on Platner’s tattoo, which resembles a Nazi design, rather than discussing what she described as the Republican Party’s “real Nazi policy.”

“We need to take back the Senate, but don’t vote for D because I want to fake a tattoo and positions don’t make him a Nazi when he’s up against Nazis with real politics,” Bitecofer wrote.

Tommy Vietor, an ally of Platner and co-host of the influential Democratic Party-affiliated podcast “Pod Save America,” questioned whether Auchincloss’ objections to Platner could be resolved by speaking candidly with him.

“Have you called or met with him to discuss this?” said Vietor.

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Conservatives, meanwhile, accused Auchincloss of bowing to the left after his initial criticism of Platner.

“It only took you 24 hours to bend the knee to a Nazi tattoo artist?” Will Chamberlain, senior adviser to the Trump-aligned Article III Project, wrote on social media. “Your ancestors are rolling in their graves.”

“You are a true profile of courage, my friend,” Republican communicator Tim Murtaugh said of Auchincloss.

Conservative journalist Curtis Houck wrote sarcastically: “Well, well, look who’s back with his tail between his knees.”

Houck echoed Auchincloss’ comments from Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who faced similar backlash after breaking with Democrats on transgender issues following the 2024 elections. compared with.

During her Senate race in deep-blue Massachusetts, Moulton began toeing the party line on transgender rights.

Fox News Digital reached out to Auchincloss for comment before publication.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins (left) of Maine will face a frustrating reelection challenge from Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner (right). (Fox News; Getty Images)

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Auchincloss was among a handful of Democrats who called on Platner to drop out of the Democratic primary after the Senate floor revealed his Nazi-linked tattoo during an October 2025 episode of “Pod Save America.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The far-left candidate, endorsed by , emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee after Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, suspended her campaign ahead of the June 9 primary.

Platner, 41, had the tattoo for almost two decades after getting it while drunk with sailor friends in Split, Croatia, in 2007.

He has since covered up the design and repeatedly claimed he was unaware of the symbol’s Nazi origins.

CNN And Jewish Insider He reported that Platner knew about the design’s association with the Nazi SS.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., raises his hand with Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner during the “Oligarchic Struggle” rally on May 25, 2026 in Portland, Maine. (WFVX/WVII)

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Platner had faced harsh criticism for Reddit posts that were deleted as recently as 2021; In those posts, he called himself a communist, said rural white Americans were “actually” racist and stupid, and argued that all law enforcement officials were “bastards,” among other deleted messages.

He also discussed masturbating in portable toilets and mocked a Purple Heart recipient who was shot multiple times in the shooting in since-deleted posts, according to initial reporting by Fox News Digital.

Collins is widely viewed as the most vulnerable incumbent in the GOP running for re-election, and the battleground race is likely a must-win for Democrats if they want to regain control of the Senate during the midterm elections.