Sick Burns - 5/1/2026
Maine Governor Janet Mills officially dropped out of the Democratic Primary for Maine Senate and I have thoughts on the possible future Senator Nazi Tattoo
Also weekly recap and things of interest
Earlier this week, Maine governor Janet Mills dropped out of the Democratic Primary for the US Senate race in Maine, which opens up the race for presumptive frontrunner Graham Platner. I've written previously on this newsletter about the red flags around Platner's Nazi tattoo and how his checkered past may come back to bite him against incumbent Susan Collins.
I won't rehash that here other than reiterating that both knowingly having a Nazi Totenkopf inked on your body, and also not knowing that a Totenkopf is a prominent Nazi symbol are equally disqualifying when it comes to pursuing a US Senate seat. That's especially so in this time of rising fascism and far right, racist power.
But I think Platner's success thus far on the campaign trail is linked to bigger dynamics than just the personal, and his recent campaign tactics show that he's not nearly as leftist as he first presented himself as...
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I think most of the heavy lifting for Platner's campaign came from him being a fresh face. I lived in Maine for most of my adult life and still followed Maine politics even after I left in 2018, and I had never head of the guy before he announced his candidacy.
His first campaign ad hit all the boxes of the moment: taking on the oligarchs, a candidate straight out of maritime Maine central casting, and the fighting energy needed in the moment.
Before I knew anything else about Platner, I liked him. You can go into my past on Bluesky and see it for yourself. But everything I've learned about him since then has been a long series of red flags for an unknown candidate.
Nevertheless, he's succeeding despite all of the personal baggage attached to his candidacy. In the head to head matchup with Mills, I think his youthful age did a lot of work. Mills would have been the oldest first time senator in history at over 80 years old. Collins is not much further behind at 73 years old.
People, particularly Democrats, are craving youth from a party whose leadership should have long ago retired. There are other candidates in the race, of course, but none of them have managed to build the same fundraising and name ID operations as Platner.
It remains to be seen what kind of senator he would make, should he unseat Collins, but I forewarn any outsiders watching this race to not underestimate the incumbent here.
Another concern I have with Platner is how much his tone has shifted over the course of this race. He has newer policy advisors and some of his positions have seemingly shifted more towards the center over recent weeks. This has coincided with big DC and NYC fundraisers and meetings with sitting Democratic Senators.
It was these maneuvers that helped him freeze out Mills, who simply ran out of the cash she needed to compete with Platner. Those funds had to have gone somewhere, and it's not hard to see that many of them have ended up in Platner's coffers.
What promises has he made in return for that cash?
Platner raised $4.1 million dollars in the first quarter, according to Politico, but remains at a cash-on-hand deficit to Collins, who raised just $2.7 million last quarter. With Mills out of the race, and Platner bailing on the previously promised Democratic primary debates, he can now turn his spending focus towards unseating Collins.
It's a key race that could well end up determining who will have control of the upper chamber. We may very well end up with Senator Nazi Tattoo on the Democratic party side of the aisle.
Stuff I've published this week:
This piece was really fun to report on. It's been a few years since I've done any in person reporting, so it was good to flex that journalistic muscle again. I think the difficulty for someone like me reporting local news is that my audience is national, and doesn't necessarily care about a protest happening in Springfield, MA. But in this case, the story is not limited only to my area.
Blue state hospitals around the country are shutting down their youth gender affirming care programs, prompting protests all over the country. I bet if you looked in your area, you'd find protests against local hospitals for the same things.
Katelyn Burns
For The Flytrap, I was able to write a lovely eulogy for my cat Samwise, who passed away a few weeks ago. He really did keep me going in my darkest times. It's an exploration of depression during the pandemic and how pets can help us survive without them even knowing it.
Katelyn Burns
That's it for my work this week. It was relatively light, workwise, because my kids were here visiting this week and we had a lovely time together. We'll be back again next week, which is a podcast week.
Interesting Things:
I just got home from bringing my kids back to my ex's house and on the way home I was fascinated by this discussion on the A Bit Fruity podcast between host Matt Bernstein, my friend Kat Tenbarge, and YouTuber FD Signifier about the "looksmaxxing" influencer Clavicular.
I was particularly struck by how seriously they took Clavicular's worldview and, rather than laugh it off like nearly every piece of media I've seen about the guy, they engage in an honest critique of both Clavicular's largely correct diagnosis of the world built for young people, and his completely disastrous prescription for young people to engage with that world.
Give it a listen, this one will surprise you as much as it surprised me:
Earlier this week I listened to this bonus episode of If Books Could Kill and goddamn if the "Idea Scoop" brainworm hasn't latched itself into my lexicon already. So if you hear me say in on the podcast, blame Michael and Peter.
That's all for this week, thank you all for continuing to support me and my work. I'm excited for next week and have a few things cooking in my brain for that.
Quote of the Day:
"Are you mogging me right now?" -male journalists interviewing Clavicular
