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Graham Platner, a U.S. military veteran and oyster farmer running for Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, is apologizing for now-deleted Reddit posts in which he called himself a communist and suggested some political resistance should include firearms — comments he says no longer reflect him. He attributed the rhetoric to post-traumatic stress and alienation after combat in the Middle East. Platner also renounced earlier comments about military sexual-assault coverups, describing the infantry as intensely misogynistic. He says he is not a communist but a working-class populist, and regrets the crude, combative tone.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.