Morris Katz, a close advisor to Graham Platner who stood by the embattled Maine Democrat until the final days of his Senate race, is now adopting a more contrite tone as he looks back on what went wrong in the campaign, one of the most closely watched in the country this year. 

“The tattoo should have been enough,” Katz said in an interview on “The Ezra Klein Show” from The New York Times. He was referring to Platner’s tattoo of a Totenkopf, a symbol associated with the Nazi regime’s elite — and brutal — SS unit. Platner denied knowing what the tattoo, a version of a skull and crossbones, represented, though an ex-girlfriend has maintained that he told her and others that he knew what it was. Katz said her account should’ve been taken more seriously when she shared it. 

Katz also referenced scores of old social media posts from Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer who was dogged from the start of the Democratic primary by a series of past posts and remarks invoking slurs, promoting violence and making light of sexual assault. “In hindsight, knowing what we know now, the Reddit posts alone probably should have been enough,” he added.

Throughout a steady drip-drip-drip of new revelations, which grew to include allegations that he was sending sexually explicit messages to women other than his wife and that he had a history of being manipulative and intimidating toward ex-girlfriends, Platner emerged with a similar message to voters: that he had changed, and was a better person now. A rape allegation ultimately ended his campaign. 

“I think both things can be true: that we need different kinds of candidates running outside of the political arena,” Katz told Klein, “and that it’s the United States Senate, and candidacies should be held to an incredibly high standard.”

The 27-year-old Katz, who played a pivotal role in the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, was part of Platner’s campaign even before it began. He helped to recruit the candidate and had reportedly told people he wanted to see Platner run for president in 2028. Platner regularly drew large crowds, even as more reports about his background emerged, and won the Democratic nomination after his top competitor, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out.

Katz has emerged relatively unscathed from the chaos in Maine. Mamdani and Micah Lasher, the Democratic nominee for an Upper West Side-area congressional district, have both said recently they would continue to work with Katz. 

In the interview with Klein, the consultant said he would continue to fight establishment politics in the Democratic Party but that he had erred in his continued support of Platner. 

“I think that there are a lot of people who have made mistakes or said controversial things who we want to win the support of, who we need to earn the trust of. But I also think I was wrong,” Katz said in the interview. “There are a lot of incredible people who are not part of the political arena, a lot of incredible working-class Americans across the country, who don’t have those problematic Reddit posts or who don’t have a problematic tattoo or don’t have quite the level of controversy in their past.” 

Katz acknowledged that a more thorough vetting process may have found further evidence of Platner’s past social media posts, but insisted that any campaign vetting would not have found evidence of the rape allegation. 

“Essentially, there was the inclination that there were problematic posts on Reddit, not the full degree of what later came out,” Katz said. “An even more robust process would have found more of the specific Reddit comments and, potentially, the tattoo. But again, a standard vetting process probably doesn’t uncover most of the things that came after.”

Klein read to Katz one of Platner’s 2013 Reddit posts, which placed blame for sexual assault on women who drink too much. 

“I think it should have been a red line,” Katz said. He argued that people should “not be exiled from society and day-to-day life if they’ve changed or are putting in the work to change.” But, Katz added, “that doesn’t mean that they’re entitled to a role in elected office.”