Graham Platner’s campaign for U.S. Senate has been rolling through the state like a juggernaut since launching in late August.

His background as an oyster farmer and military veteran has excited progressives and others eager to challenge the national Democratic establishment. And his entrance has generated largely glowing coverage from local and national media outlets.

That all changed this week when national media began reporting on a series of years-old social media posts that were deleted before he announced his candidacy.

The moment represents the first true test for the political newcomer and his response could be key to whether his campaign can maintain its early momentum and fundraising success.

“This is a big test,” said Nicholas Jacobs, a political science professor at Colby College. “Some of those comments strike at the very heart of the campaign he’s trying to construct.”

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Platner’s now-deleted posts on Reddit include comments made in 2013 about sexual assault in the military.

“Rape is a real thing,” he wrote in a post. “If you’re so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear you’d think you might not get blacked out f—-d up around people you aren’t comfortable with.”

As news of the deleted posts came to light, Genevieve McDonald, the political director for Platner’s campaign, resigned, according to a letter shared with the Portland Press Herald. In the resignation letter, dated Friday and first reported by the Bangor Daily News, McDonald said she was not aware of the posts before joining and “they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate.”

“The words we choose to use online reflect who we are and what we stand for,” McDonald wrote. “While I am empathetic to Graham’s experiences and respect his personal journey and growth, I cannot overlook the volume and nature of his past comments, many of which were made as an adult, not as a young man.”

The comments described in the Post emerged following reports from other national media outlets, touting exclusive reports.

Politico reported that Platner suggested in 2018 that violence may be necessary to achieve social justice, saying that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history” and “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”

CNN was the first to report on the deleted messages, including comments in 2021 agreeing police— “all of them” — are bastards and that rural white Americans “actually” are racist, in 2020. And he said his service in the Marines and Army National Guard made him “stop believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place.”

Platner has not shied away from responding to the reports. He has consistently told media outlets, including the Press Herald, that some of his posts were “stupid joke comments” and “just dumb stuff” during a time when he was lonely and isolated.

He has explained that he struggled with post traumatic stress disorder following his military service but said Thursday he no longer feels the same sense of disillusionment he once did.

“I’m proud that I got through a dark period in my life and I’m proud of the life that I live now,” he said.

Platner reiterated that message in a nearly 5-minute video posted on social media Friday evening, calling the comments “the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the internet.”

He said he took to Reddit as an outlet for rage and feelings of isolation after returning from service but “that all went away” when he returned to his hometown around 2021.

“Reconnecting with the community that I’m from, building real friendships, building real networks, real relationships with people — that helped cut my disillusion,” he said. “I went from thinking that people were bad to knowing that people are good.”

The source of the leaks about Platner’s social media history is unclear. They began only days after Gov. Janet Mills announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Mills is the preferred candidate of national Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Her campaign created a joint fundraising group this week with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Platner has been campaigning against “the establishment,” and his message appears to be resonating with progressives across the state. His campaign has raised over $4 million and his town hall events draw hundreds of people, including in rural areas.

Ronald Schmidt, a political science professor at the University of Southern Maine, said Platner appears to be responding as well as he can by acknowledging the posts and highlighting how he has since personally grown.

Schmidt said Platner is probably fortunate that the comments are being disclosed now and not closer to the June primary, since voters have plenty of time to forget. But the posts could freeze potential donors, he said.

“He’s getting attention from more people who can help with fundraising, so that’s the only real damage that could happen now,” Schmidt said.

Jacobs, whose work focuses on rural voters, said some of the posts — particularly about rural white voters and patriotism — could have lasting impacts, especially if he secures the nomination and runs against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking her sixth term.

“These sorts of mistakes that just tear at the fabric of the image that he’s trying to construct — that’s a real test,” Jacobs said.

But people may forget about the posts in a few weeks, he said. And if Platner continues to draw large crowds and maintain his volunteer base, which the campaign says exceeds 10,000 people, then this period could have a “silver lining.”

“It would go to show that the Graham Platner phenomenon isn’t a flash in the pan and might actually resonate with something real that’s going on in Maine politics,” he said.

Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed.