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In one of the weirder political twists of the moment, the two Democrats who stand the greatest chance of flipping the Senate in November represent opposite ideals of American manhood.
One, an archetypal warrior, is being accused of toxic masculinity; the other, a proselytizer for compassion and empathy, has been derided as not manly enough.
In Maine, oyster farmer and former Marine Graham Platner is the gruff, unshaven, blue-collar contender for the seat of longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has never met a war she couldn’t vote for or a Supreme Court nominee who couldn’t gull her.
In Texas, state legislator and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico is the boyishly clean-cut, soft-spoken contender for the seat of vanquished Republican Sen. John Cornyn, ousted by scandal-ridden Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, who has been described by Talarico as the most corrupt politician in America. (Personally, I would say Paxton has competition for the title.)
As different as the two men are, Platner and Talarico embody a pro-worker, pro-immigrant populism that is extremely appealing at a moment when inflation is rampant, wages are stagnant and unrestrained billionaires are calling the political shots.
“The real fight in this county is not left vs. right,” Talarico often says. “It’s top vs. bottom.”
With youth on their side — Platner is 41, Talarico is 37 — their victories would also represent another positive step in the changing of the Democratic old guard.
In speeches, both can evoke the refreshing rhetoric of a young Barack Obama.
“This is not about me at all,” Platner says. “This is a movement about us.”
“There is something broken in America,” Talarico says. “That old politics is dying. A new politics is being born.”
Platner is a flawed candidate, for sure, a political novice whose abrupt entrance in the race has been accompanied by a cascade of sordid revelations about his past.
Among them: Platner has acknowledged once having a Nazi-inspired skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest, but claimed he was unaware of its meaning when he got it in 2007 during a drunken leave with some fellow Marines in Croatia. He has since covered it with a different tattoo.
A former girlfriend has disputed that Platner was ignorant of the tattoo’s meaning, telling the New York Times that he used to joke about his “totenkopf” or death head. The same woman also said he was physically rough with her — twisting her arm during an argument, shoving her into a bedroom and holding the door closed so she could not leave. He has also admitted posting extreme views on social media during a time after his military service, he says, when he was struggling with post traumatic stress disorder and drinking heavily. And Platner’s wife has said he sexted a number of women shortly after they married in 2023.
As Republicans disingenuously accuse Democrats of putting up with behavior they condemn in politicians such as President Trump (Eric Swalwell, anyone?), it’s worth noting that, unlike Trump, Platner has apologized repeatedly, and claimed he is a changed man.
“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics, and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” Platner told supporters last week.
The question for Maine voters in November: Do you believe him?
In Texas, Republicans are straining to tarnish Talarico, a Harvard-educated former middle school teacher who became the youngest member of the Texas state legislature in 2018 at just 29. His biggest “scandal” seems to be that he once said people should eat less meat.
With relatively little ammunition, Republicans have hit the gutter, attacking Talarico’s masculinity with transphobic and homophobic memes.
“The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate,” said the odious and unfunny Stephen Miller.
Talarico’s social media videos have often gone viral because he offers a persuasive moral argument, grounded in his experience as a seminarian, that the “Christianity” practiced by MAGA Republicans today would be unrecognizable to Christ.
“My faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself,” Talarico said three months ago when he secured the Democratic Senate nomination. “I’m trying to love my neighbor through public policy. I’m trying to make my neighbor’s life a little better.”
A gentle Christian who says he loves trans children and abhors Trump’s harsh immigration policy is apparently intolerable to folks like Paxton, who was indicted on felony securities-fraud charges before he became attorney general, and then was impeached on allegations of bribery, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and retaliation against whistleblowers. (The Texas Senate acquitted him.) His wife is divorcing him on “biblical grounds,” alleging he commited adultery. Even Paxton’s own defense attorney endorsed Talarico. Is this really the kind of man Republicans admire?
“James Talarico is a threat to everything we hold dear in this country,” Paxton told his supporters last week as he read from a teleprompter in a stilted, low-energy style. “I mean, he’s a vegan who thinks God is non-binary and that there’s actually six biological sexes.” (Talarico said the remark about God was “intentionally provocative,” and says he regrets those “cringey” remarks.)
Still, is that all they’ve got?
Paxton’s biggest diss is to insult Talarico as “too low-T for Texas.” He also coined the word “Talafreako,” a moniker that was immediately embraced by Talarico supporters, who created “I’m a Talafreako” T-shirts.
It seems that a flawed oyster farmer and a former seminarian are the country’s best hopes to take back the Senate. I’d vote for both if I could.
Bluesky: @rabcarian
Threads: @rabcarian
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The article contends that two high-profile Democratic Senate challengers, Maine’s Graham Platner and Texas’ James Talarico, are offering sharply different but complementary models of American masculinity: Platner as a rough-edged “warrior” and Talarico as a gentle, empathetic Christian public servant.
It argues that both candidates channel a pro-worker, pro-immigrant populism that speaks to anger over inflation, stagnant wages and billionaire influence, and that this “top vs. bottom” framing could be especially resonant in an era when Democrats are often associated with more “feminine” traits in voters’ minds.[1][3]
The piece suggests their youth and rhetoric about movements, broken politics and “new” politics evoke early Barack Obama and mark an overdue generational changing of the guard within the Democratic Party.
On Platner, the article frankly describes serious problems in his past — a Nazi-style skull tattoo he says he later covered, allegations from a former partner of physically rough behavior, extreme social media posts and sexting early in his marriage — yet frames him as someone who has repeatedly apologized, attributes his worst behavior to untreated PTSD and alcohol abuse, and now claims to be a changed man.[4]
The column contrasts Platner’s contrition with Republicans’ tolerance of Donald Trump–style misconduct, arguing that Democrats are not engaging in hypocrisy because Platner has sought accountability in a way Trump has not, and it poses a direct question to Maine voters about whether they believe in personal change.
On Talarico, the article portrays Republicans’ efforts to paint him as insufficiently manly — through transphobic and homophobic memes, nicknames, and mockery of his veganism and past comments about God’s gender — as evidence that the GOP equates masculinity with cruelty and bigotry rather than moral seriousness.[5]
It casts Talarico’s public Christianity, rooted in loving one’s neighbor, supporting trans children and rejecting harsh anti-immigrant policies, as a compelling counter-model to MAGA-style religion, and highlights that even a Republican lawyer tied to Ken Paxton has endorsed him as a more ethical choice.
The article ultimately frames Platner and Talarico as among the country’s best hopes for flipping Senate seats and reshaping both Democratic politics and American masculinity, and it ends with the explicit declaration that the columnist would vote for both if possible.
Different views on the topic
A Politico Magazine roundtable on Democrats’ “man problem” notes that many male voters already perceive the Democratic Party as aligned with “feminine” traits, while Republicans are seen as embodying toughness and strength; some participants warn that emphasizing a softer or more cerebral masculinity, as with Talarico, may reinforce existing stereotypes that Democrats are not the party of strength or protection.[1][3]
In the same discussion, some Democratic strategists question whether the party should engage in masculinity branding at all; they argue that leaning into narratives about what kind of “man” a candidate is can distract from material issues like wages and health care and risk alienating women and nonbinary voters by centering politics on male identity.[3]
Gender and politics scholars at Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics report that voters across parties tend to describe things they like about Democrats using “feminine” traits and things they dislike about Republicans using “masculine” traits; this research suggests Democrats are often rewarded for leaning into compassion and care, and it cautions that trying to project a more combative, Platner-style masculinity may not align with the party’s brand or voter expectations.[1]
A Pew Research Center study finds that many Americans, especially Republican men, feel society has become too critical of masculinity and place high value on traditional traits like toughness, self-reliance and being a family provider; these respondents are more skeptical of efforts to redefine masculinity around vulnerability, emotional openness or nontraditional lifestyles, which may limit the appeal of candidates who foreground those traits.[2]
Danielle Kurtzleben’s “masculinity in politics” primer points to the Graham Platner episode as an example of how efforts to market a candidate as rugged and warrior-like can collide with public concern over extremism and past abusive behavior, highlighting the political and ethical risks of elevating a figure with a Nazi-inspired tattoo and allegations of mistreating a former partner as a symbol of renewed Democratic masculinity.[4]
Conservative media voices have sharply criticized Democratic attempts to broaden or soften ideals of manhood; on Fox News’ “The Five,” commentators claimed Democrats “want to change the meaning of masculinity” and linked this critique to what they view as weak Democratic policies on crime and border security, framing traditional, more hard-edged masculinity as essential to public safety and national strength.[5]
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