A growing number of Democratic congressional hopefuls are finding their own online histories catching up with them, raising serious questions about judgment, character, and the standards of a party that routinely lectures its opponents on decency and accountability.
In recent months, several high-profile progressive candidates have been forced onto the defensive as old social media posts resurface, revealing everything from open flirtations with communism to crude jokes about sexual assault and domestic violence, according to RedState. These revelations are particularly striking given that many of these same Democrats have built their brands on moral posturing and denunciations of Republicans as unfit for office, yet now find themselves explaining away behavior that would end the career of any conservative overnight.
One of the most glaring examples is Graham Platner, a Maine Senate candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. Platner became embroiled in a scandal of his own making last October, when a series of offensive posts he had published on Reddit roughly a decade ago were unearthed, including posts in which he boasted about being a communist and smeared law enforcement officers as b**tards.
The posts did not stop at anti-police rhetoric. There was also an unhealthy dose of self-loathing towards rural white Americans and racially insensitive posts about how black people tip, as well as some sexual assault victim-shaming.
Compounding the controversy was the disturbing revelation that Platner once sported a Nazi-themed tattoo on his chest, a symbol that would be politically fatal for any Republican candidate. Platner claimed he did not know the meaning of the tattoo at the time he got it in 2007 and has since covered it with another design, a defense that strains credulity in an era when even the faintest whiff of extremism is supposed to be disqualifying.
Platner is not an isolated case within the Democratic field. On the House side, another Sanders-backed candidate, Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin (D), has come under fire for his own troubling online footprint, and he also enjoys the support of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose Deputy Chair is Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05).
Blouin, 36, is running in Utahs newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, a seat that now leans Democratic and has drawn intense interest from the partys progressive wing. According to local reports, Blouins internal polling places him in second position in the primary, trailing former Democrat Rep. Ben McAdams (UT-04), a more establishment-aligned figure.
On Wednesday, Punchbowl News broke a story detailing Blouins problematic social media history, much of it drawn from old posts on Reddit and other forums. Like Platner, Blouins comments are not merely youthful indiscretions but reveal a pattern of contempt and vulgarity that is likely to sit poorly with Utahs large and devout Mormon population (language/content warning).
Among the resurfaced material is a post in which Blouin praised a comedian who joked about the infamous domestic violence incident between artists Chris Brown and Rihanna. Blouin wrote that the comedian hit the nail on the head. pun intended.
In another instance, when a student athlete at Brigham Young University was charged with sexual battery, Blouin mocked the situation on LetsRun.com, writing: good ol mormon kid. had to let out the pent up sexual frustration somehow.
On that same thread, he went further, dismissing concerns about sexual misconduct and physical boundaries. Blouin lamented that people are too damn sensitive and that slapping girls a**es as you run by shouldnt land you in jail or anything by any means.
Now that these posts have become public, Blouin is attempting to distance himself from his own words, insisting that he has grown and changed. He is proclaiming that he has matured significantly over the past decade, that those posts do not reflect who he is today, and says his past comments horrified him: Theres no excuse for these posts -- theyre vulgar, stupid, and reflect a version of me in my early twenties that Im ashamed of and have thankfully evolved past. When a reporter sent me these posts, I was horrified to see my
The political stakes are particularly high given the district Blouin seeks to represent. The 1st Congressional District is where the churchs headquarters are located, making his mockery of Mormon culture and cavalier attitude toward sexual misconduct especially explosive.
For Utahns who have been sounding the alarm about Blouins behavior for years, the national attention is overdue. Utahns who have been calling out Blouin for years are feeling vindicated over the reports, essentially saying told ya so: Nate Blouin finally got busted for being the total degenerate turd that he is. Weve been noting it on X for years. Our local media was never interested in doing any basic reporting about him. Theres no excuse for these posts theyre vulgar, stupid, and reflect a
The fallout within the Democratic field has already begun. The calls from other candidates for Blouin to withdraw have already started, with Salt Lake City Councilwoman Eva Lopez Chavez declaring: Recent findings raise serious concerns about Senator Blouins judgment, particularly on issues impacting womens physical safety and the reality of sexual violence.
Whether this will derail Blouins bid remains uncertain. Will this blow Blouins chances at the nomination?
The answer is complicated by the current mood within the Democratic Party, where the activist left increasingly demands aggressive, anti-establishment fighters to take on President Donald Trump and the broader conservative movement. Blouin has tried to cast himself in precisely that mold, betting that progressive zeal will outweigh concerns about his past conduct among primary voters.
Evidence from other races suggests that bet may not be misplaced. Graham Platner is polling well ahead of his closest competitor, Schumer-backed Maine Gov. Janet Mills, despite the Nazi tattoo and Reddit controversies that would be career-ending in most contexts.
Similarly, Abdul El-Sayed, the antisemitic Bernie-backed Senate candidate in Michigan who thinks Hasan Piker is a cool guy worth sitting down to break bread with, is currently locked in a three-way tie in his primary race. The pattern is hard to ignore: candidates with radical views and deeply troubling histories are not being sidelined by Democratic voters but often elevated, so long as they channel the right brand of progressive outrage.
Procedurally, Blouin has already cleared one major hurdle, having secured the signatures necessary to qualify for the June primary ballot. Yet the Utah Democrat Party will be holding its nominating convention in about 10 days, and that gathering now promises to be a test not only of Blouins political survival, but of whether Democrats are willing to hold their own to the same standards they so eagerly impose on everyone else.
Login