Exclusive: Bernie Sanders slams media's coverage of Graham Platner

Sen. Bernie Sanders is doubling down on his support for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, saying there might be "one or two more important issues" than the Marine veteran's tattoos."I'm not overly impressed by a squad of media running around saying, 'what do you think about the tattoo on Graham Platner's chest," Sanders tells Axios' Alex Thompson on "The Axios Show."Why it matters: Platner's campaign has been in turmoil over the past week after reports of years old posts on Reddit that included disparaging comments about rural white people, Black diners, and police officers.Photos also emerged of Platner sporting a tattoo on his chest that resembles a Nazi skull and crossbones image sometimes referred to as "Totenkopf."Platner has since apologized and said he got another tattoo to cover up the other.Zoom in: Sanders is openly opposing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is backing Maine Gov. Janet Mills for the Senate seat.Democrats have little chance of retaking the Senate majority in the 2026 midterms if they cannot defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.What they're saying: Sanders, who rallied with Platner last month in Maine, said he still thought Platner was the best candidate to win.Citing Platner's deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sanders said Platner "went into a dark period in his life. I suspect that Graham Plattner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period."He added: "What he did was he expressed his darkness on the internet. Probably not a brilliant thing to do, alright? And he said things that are stupid, things that were hurtful. He has apologized for them.""I think what we have got to do as a nation is not focus on a tattoo," Sanders said. "We've got to focus on a system which in many ways is collapsing."The other side: Platner's political director, former state representative Genevieve McDonald, resigned in the aftermath of the recent revelations and said that Platner knew better about the tattoo. "He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff. We cannot be this painfully stupid," she wrote on Facebook.The intrigue: Sanders said he didn't know whether Schumer and his allies were behind the recent batch of stories about Platner.Schumer publicly announced his preference for Mills on Tuesday, telling reporters that the 77-year-old governor is the "best candidate to retire Susan Collins."The bottom line: Sanders told Axios that he still believes Platner is a more compelling candidate."I think at this particular moment in American history, having establishment type candidates doesn't really cut it," he said. "People are angry, people are hurting. People want candidates and public officials who are going to stand up and fight for them."

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