Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner vowed not to be an “a**hole” like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) if elected, escalating their feud.Fetterman, never one to be afraid to differentiate himself from his Democrat colleagues, has been one of the rare congressional Democrats to openly attack the scandal-ridden Platner. On Monday, Platner launched his own attack against the Pennsylvania Democrat while discussing his hypothetical future in the Senate.“The Senate really is a place of — it’s a lot about relationships, and I, like — I don’t want to go down there and simply be nonfunctional,” he began.

“I mean, as you can all probably tell, I got a lot of criticisms about the way this government functions, but in order for us to make it functional, we’re going to have to do stuff, and you can’t just go down there and be John Fetterman, and just, and just kind of, just sort of be an a**hole,” Platner continued.

He then quickly moved to justify his remarks, clarifying that Fetterman “said mean things about me, I’m allowed to say that.”

Among Fetterman’s remarks over the past couple of months about Platner was a comment using the same curse word to describe the Maine Democrat.

“Democrats really, really like Platner in Maine but the Republicans f***ing love him,” Fetterman said in April, later adding, “if Maine wants an a**hole with a Nazi tattoo on his chest, they get him.”