Maine Oyster Farmer’s Dad Somehow Found $60,000 To Drop On Democrats Despite ‘Working Class’ Background

Oyster farmer and Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s father has contributed approximately $60,000 to Democratic candidates and causes, according to federal records.

Bronson Platner, the father of Graham Platner and a retired lawyer and assistant district attorney, has contributed approximately $60,000 to Democratic candidates and super PACs between 2011 and 2024, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. The elder Platner has also donated $4,000 to Independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats.

The younger Platner has been presented as the “working class” Democrat challenging Republican Senator Susan Collins. Bronson Platner is a retired lawyer who previously served as an assistant district attorney, according to his former campaign account on Facebook. He ran for a seat on the Ellsworth City Council in 2020, but was defeated, WDEA reported.

Graham Platner attended the elite Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, which costs over $75,000 a year, The Washington Free Beacon reported, citing a 1999 article in a Maine newspaper. Hotchkiss is approximately 60 miles from Yale University in the state of Connecticut.

Platner referred to himself as a “working-class Mainer who’s seen this state become unlivable for working people” in the caption of is August campaign launch video.

My name is Graham Platner and I’m running for US Senate to defeat Susan Collins and topple the oligarchy that’s destroying our country.

I’m a veteran, oysterman, and working class Mainer who’s seen this state become unlivable for working people. And that makes me deeply angry. pic.twitter.com/QZfAm528N1

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) August 19, 2025

Platner seems not to have stayed long at Hotchkiss. A 2002 article lists him as a junior from Sullivan, Maine, commuting an hour to the more affordable John Baptist Memorial High School in Bangor and having grown used to it “after three years,” according to the Free Beacon.

Platner’s expanding oyster farming business drew a visit from Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden in 2024, when the lawmaker toured the farm by boat off Hancock Point and later joined Platner “and several other small business owners for lunch in Ellsworth,” the Daily Caller previously reported.

The two former Marines’ meeting took place years after Platner made a $1,000 campaign donation to Golden’s election committee in March 2018, according to FEC records. Bronson Platner has donated $8,600 to the representative’s election committee. (RELATED: Maine Mamdani: So-Called ‘Grassroots’ Oyster Farmer Has Deep Connections To Far-Left)

Platner’s father also contributed $5,600 to former Maine House Speaker and Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon, who lost to Senator Susan Collins after being endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

FEC records show that Bronson Platner has also donated to the Senate Majority PAC (SMP), the Maine Democratic Party and the campaigns of former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris over the past nearly 14 years.

Graham Platner, who has been endorsed by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is facing backlash after a series of his past online comments resurfaced. In a now-deleted 2018 Reddit post, he wrote that “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice” and argued that anyone who thinks they can “fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle” should “do some reading of history,” according to a Politico report. (RELATED: Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Platner Calls For Violence In Now-Deleted Posts)

Bernie Sanders on why he still endorses Graham Platner: “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 suggests Platner was sympathetic to Nazis because he was in the U.S. military pic.twitter.com/9vF4NnCP8l

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 22, 2025

Platner had also previously described himself as a “communist,” agreed that “all” police officers were bastards and claimed that rural white Americans “actually are” stupid and racist in since-deleted posts, according to a CNN K-FILE report.

A resurfaced video appears to show Graham Platner with a tattoo resembling the German SS Totenkopf — the skull-and-crossbones symbol associated with Nazi “Death’s Head” units. He said he has since had the tattoo covered and posted a video to X addressing it. (RELATED: Democrat Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner Outed By Own Comments As Anti-White Communist)

Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps.

I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn’t deeply offensive to my core beliefs.

I am very sorry to all of you who had to… pic.twitter.com/RQSiRsrTiC

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 22, 2025

The Daily Caller has reached out to Graham Platner’s campaign for comment.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Rep. Golden ‘backed’ Platner’s campaign. We have updated and regret the error.