Democrat’s Fox News Comment on ‘Not Crying’ Over Graham Platner’s Potential Loss Sparks Progressive Backlash
Democratic strategist Melissa DeRosa ignited a firestorm among progressives this week after appearing on Fox News and saying she and like-minded moderates would not “shed tears” if Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner loses his race — a remark that critics called a betrayal of party unity.
Speaking Tuesday evening on Bret Baier’s Special Report, DeRosa — the former chief of staff to ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — weighed in on the ideological civil war splitting the Democratic Party. The conversation followed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s primary runoff victory over Senator John Cornyn, a race where Paxton enjoyed the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
DeRosa pivoted to Maine, where Platner is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. Platner has been dogged by controversy, including revelations last year that he once sported a chest tattoo resembling the Nazi SS Totenkopf symbol. He has since covered the ink and said he was unaware of its meaning while serving in the military. He also faced backlash over past social media posts that appeared to celebrate footage of an American soldier being shot.
“The main race demonstrates the civil war happening in the Democratic party,” DeRosa told Baier. “A lot of Democrats, moderate Democrats like myself, will not cry tears should we lose Maine. That would be a ticket to begin with. How big a tent is the party? Is it big enough for somebody with Nazi tattoos? Big enough for somebody who celebrated a veteran being shot? I say no to that.”
Her comments landed like a grenade in progressive circles. Within hours, Democratic operatives and commentators took to social media to denounce her. “I mean what are we doing here,” wrote Democratic strategist Rob Flaherty. Commentator Kyle Kulinski went further: “These aren’t ‘moderates,’ as I’ve always told you, they’re diet MAGA. They’re simply not real democrats.”
For progressives, DeRosa’s dismissal of a sitting Democratic candidate — one who may still win the primary — reflects a deeper schism over the party’s identity. Critics framed her as a “Cuomo crony” more interested in settling old scores than in expanding the party’s electoral coalition. The episode comes at a fraught moment, as Democrats try to hold their Senate majority in a midterm environment where even safe seats are suddenly contested.
DeRosa, for her part, framed her stance as a moral line. But by airing it on Fox News — a network often treated as enemy territory by the left — she amplified the sense of a party at war with itself. The question of how far the Democratic “big tent” should extend has no easy answer, but the Platner case has become a flashpoint that could reverberate through primary battles and general election messaging alike.
Watch the segment above via Fox News.