Graham Platner, Maine’s likely Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, was hand-plucked by a pair of socialist political operatives who sought him out after catching wind of him through the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) network.
After being accused of abusive behavior by women he has dated, wearing a Nazi tattoo for 18 years, sexting several women while married, and a host of other scandals, Platner is now being criticized for the Ivy League-educated radicals behind him.
Daniel Moraff of Yale Law and his fiancée, Leanne Fan of Harvard and University of California-Berkeley, met while working for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2020, Politico reported in a December 2025 article titled “Graham Platner Really Might Be Doomed. Pay Attention to Him Anyway.”
Juicy details revealed in that article and related to the topic were highlighted by the New York Post on Friday, with the outlet’s Chadwick Moore describing Moraff and Fan as “champagne socialists” and “hardcore members” of the DSA who have previously thrown their support behind Nebraska U.S. Senate hopeful Dan Osborn and “Squad” member and Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA).
The couple had also scouted local union boss Chris Williams for Maine’s Senate race before changing their minds and settling on Platner.
Politico opined that Williams “was going to be Platner before Platner,” with the union leader telling the publication that he had “a skeleton in the closet that wasn’t true that we would’ve had to explain,” so they “decided to go in a different direction.”
Moore wrote that it still “remains to be seen” if Williams’ skeletons are worse than Platner’s, which appear to be emerging practically every day.
Moraff, who owns Dark Forest consulting firm, and Fan tracked down Platner’s mother at her restaurant after hearing his name from some of the same “grassroots progressives” who helped them identify Williams, according to Politico’s Michael Kruse.
“Platner had emerged as a leader of the Downeast activist group Acadia Action,” he wrote, referring to a local DSA-affiliated organization.
The engaged pair visited Ironbound, the eatery owned by Platner’s mom.
“They came to Ironbound knowing I was Graham’s mother,” she told Politico, recounting how she gave them her son’s phone number.
The Post‘s rundown of Moraff’s background illustrated what his impact has been within the Democrat Party:
Moraff cut his political chops in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he had moved after an undergraduate degree in engineering at Brown University. He became a prominent leader in the local DSA chapter, which underwent rapid growth after Donald Trump’s first presidential victory in 2016 and advocates for aggressive action.
His efforts fundamentally remade the Democratic Party in Pittsburgh, local politico Erin Koper told The Post.
“The DSA now is in every corner of local politics. They have been putting up candidates, getting them elected to county council, city council, state rep seats,” said Koper, who ran for city council as a Republican last year.
“The local Democratic committee, which typically leaned pretty traditional Democrat, has been taken over by progressive politics. You can’t even be a moderate now, [the DSA] will completely ruin your political career if you’re a traditional Democrat,” Koper added in her statement to the outlet.
In a now-deleted 2017 essay titled “Want to Elect Socialists? Run Them in Democratic Primaries,” Moraff argued that socialists should overrun the Democrat Party.
“We can adopt a strategy that takes advantage of the low barrier to entry of the Democratic primary, and use those victories to build our own forces — forces that, once strong enough, could plausibly break from the party. Let’s choose that strategy, and start electing socialists,” he wrote in the essay, viewed by the Post.
Despite his seemingly ever-growing pile of controversies, Platner still holds a slight lead over incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R) in a general election match-up, a recent poll from UMass Lowell shows.
While Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) suspended her own campaign for the Senate seat, she reminded voters that she will still be listed on the Democrat ballot for next Tuesday’s primary election after Platner became deeply surrounded in controversy.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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