Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) denied claims he was supporting Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in Maine’s Senate race after backlash to his opposition to Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s bid. Auchincloss, who is Jewish, said Monday during an interview with CNN that he found Platner’s controversial tattoo, which resembled a Nazi symbol before he had it covered, and his commentary about it to be “personally disqualifying.” His comment sparked outcry from some Democrats, who felt his opposition to Platner, the presumed Democratic nominee after Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) dropped out of the race, meant he was supporting Collins’s reelection bid.
In a Tuesday statement, Auchincloss rejected accusations that he was working against Democratic efforts to retake the Senate in November, and disavowed Collins, whom he called a “rubber stamp for the worst admin in history.”
“Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers,” Auchincloss wrote.
However, the Massachusetts Democrat dug his heels in to oppose Planter’s bid, saying if it were him, “I’d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”
“As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his commentary about it personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss said. “Regardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate and I’ll keep working hard to make it happen.”
