Graham Blattner, a US Senate candidate, says he covered up his tattoo after learning it was a Nazi symbol: ‘I wanted to get this thing off my body’

The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marines. He said it happened during a night he was drinking while on holiday in Croatia, adding that he did not know until recently that the image was linked to the Nazi police.

The revelation that the tattoo was hastily covered up is just the latest bizarre development that the high-stakes Senate race has seen in just the past 10 days. The unfolding drama so far has included a sweep of old online posts, a video of Blattner drunk in his underwear, and now an urgently edited tattoo.

Amid this commotion, another Democratic candidate posted a photo of himself without a shirt to show off his arm tattoo bearing the logo of former President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

The Senate race is heating up quickly

Blatner launched his campaign in August, but the race heated up last Monday when Gov. Janet Mills announced her entry into a race that Democrats feel they must run if they want to regain the Senate majority. Her entry has been supported by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is looking to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has held the Senate seat for nearly 30 years.

Shortly after Mills joined, news began pouring in about Platner’s past.

But Blatner, an oyster farmer running as a progressive candidate, responded by saying the attack showed he was not the preferred candidate of establishment Democrats. Blatner also accused his political opponents of trying to “ruin my life” and vowed that he would not be afraid of the campaign.

“All this does is motivate my commitment to this project,” he said.

Blatner’s campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, but Blatner said he later chose to cover it up with another tattoo because of limited options where he lives in rural Maine.

“Going to a tattoo removal place will take some time,” he said. “I wanted this thing from my body.”

The tattoo’s initial image resembled a specific symbol for Hitler’s paramilitary forces, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic killing of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II.

Celtic knot and dog-like creature

The new tattoo, which was completed late Tuesday, now features a Celtic knot with a dog-like creature splattered in the middle of it. The animal has four long legs, an elongated head, and a curly tongue that sticks out. The image is filled mostly with black ink, but the Celtic knot is green.

In a moment unlikely to be repeated in any campaign, let alone a race for a U.S. Senate seat, Blatner agreed to take off his shirt during an interview with WGME-TV, a Portland-based Maine outlet, on Wednesday to show off the new design. He also lifted his shirt to display it in a video he shared on social media in which he complained that it was distracting from issues that matter to him and voters in Maine.

Plattner said he was never questioned about the tattoo’s connection to Nazi symbols in his 20 years. After serving three tours as a Marine, he later went on to enlist in the Army, which requires screening for tattoos bearing hate symbols, he said.

“I also passed a full background check to obtain security clearance to join the ambassador’s security staff in Afghanistan,” Plattner said.

Other controversial statements appear in old Reddit posts

Questions about the tattoos come after the recent discovery of Blatner’s now-deleted online statements, which included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning black shepherds’ bounty-giving habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans. More old Reddit posts surfaced on Wednesday, with The Advocate reporting that Blatner used homophobic slurs and made anti-LGBTQ+ jokes between 2018 and 2021.

Blattner apologized for those comments, saying they came after he left the military in 2012, when he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

He has resisted calls to Out of the race He has the support of Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who described Blattner as a stronger candidate than Mills. Another primary contender, Jordan Wood, who was previously chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said Wednesday that Platner should withdraw because “Democrats need to be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity” and that Blatner “can no longer do that.”

Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee was fundraising for Collins.

Blattner said he is not ashamed to confront his past comments and actions because they reflect the lessons he needed to learn to get where he is today.

“I don’t look at this as a responsibility,” he told the AP, adding that he sees it as “the life that I’ve lived, a journey that was difficult, that was full of struggle, that also brought me to where I am today. And I’m very proud of who I am.”

The gathering attracts a rowdy crowd

During a rally in the southern Maine town of Ogunquit on Wednesday evening, Blattner again expressed regret about the tattoo and recent concerns about his history on social media.

His mother, Leslie Harlow, who introduced him, admitted that it had been a difficult week for her son, but she had confidence in his ability to get through it. The event packed a 500-person theater and included frequent loud applause.

“I’m ashamed of what I once said. But I’m not ashamed of who I am today,” Blattner said from the stage before a round of applause.

Outside the rally, David Tufts of Elliott, Maine, said he felt Blattner did a good job of addressing this week’s controversies. Tufts said he was a supporter of Blatner because of his stance on issues such as raising taxes on the wealthy and keeping the nation out of war.

“I feel like he did a pretty good job of explaining the history of Reddit and tattoos. I feel like I kind of understand where he’s coming from,” Tufts said, adding that it “doesn’t increase my confidence in him,” but he’s still involved in the campaign.

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Croci reported from Providence, Rhode Island.