Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer refused Tuesday to address mounting controversies surrounding presumptive Senate candidate Graham Platner, deflecting every question about the embattled Maine hopeful with a single talking point while insisting Democrats will defeat Sen. Susan Collins.
When pressed on whether he had concerns about what he had heard regarding Mr. Platner, Schumer responded only: “I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.”
Mr. Schumer was asked repeatedly and specifically whether he was satisfied with Mr. Platner’s explanations for certain campaign controversies, but he did not answer.
He also did not say whether he wanted Gov. Janet Mills, the candidate he initially endorsed, to unsuspend her campaign and oppose Mr. Platner in the June 9 Maine primary.
He said only that he now has endorsed Mr. Platner but refused to elaborate on the endorsement.
“I endorsed Graham Platner. We’re going to take back the Senate. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” he said.
Mr. Schumer made this declaration before Mr. Platner met with Democratic senators at the Capitol Hill headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Mr. Platner’s meetings in Washington come as news surfaced over the weekend about his creating a sexually suggestive profile of himself on the hookup app KiK — a site known for facilitating teen hookups — when he was in his 30s.
Mr. Platner’s profile on the anonymous messaging app features a photo of himself shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist.
The account uses the name Graham Platner and the handle associated with his Reddit and Instagram posts, “Phustle,” and “Phustle0331.”
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His distinctive tattoos can be seen in the photos, including the Chinese character for “love” on his chest.
The profile was created in June 2016, when Mr. Platner was about 31 years old.
The revelation about the KiK account comes after Amy Platner recorded a video defending her husband and expressing anger at media reports that exposed his sexting with several women.
Mrs. Platner alerted her husband’s campaign staffers about the sexually explicit texts in the days before the Democrat announced his Senate bid, when the party was scanning his past for any dirt political opponents might find.
She said she felt betrayed by the campaign staffer who then leaked the texts.
Mr. Platner previously faced backlash for a Nazi-symbol tattoo on his chest, which he covered up after announcing his Senate run. He also has been blasted for several posts on his now-deleted Reddit account that include topics such as sexual assault and military veterans.
In 2013, he posted on Reddit: “How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f——- up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?”
He later mocked a Purple Heart recipient, calling the wounded soldier a “dumb motherf——-” who “didn’t deserve to live.”
He also deemed all police officers “bastards,” agreed with posts calling rural White Mainers “racist and stupid,” and asked, “Why don’t Black people tip?”
Mr. Platner has apologized for the remarks, blaming the “stupid joke comments” on mental health struggles after returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
