Andy O’Brien, the communications director for the Maine AFL-CIO, drew backlash after posting a social media comment suggesting that Democrats who refuse to support Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner would be “first up against the wall when the revolution comes.”
O’Brien works for the Maine AFL-CIO, a statewide federation representing 160 local unions. His comment came in response to an opinion piece in The Hill by Democratic strategist Laurie A. Watkins titled, “I’m a Democratic Strategist. I Won’t Stay Silent About Graham Platner.”
In the piece, Watkins argued that her years of work on behalf of Democratic candidates and causes do not require her to support every nominee simply because that person has a “D” next to their name. She wrote critically about Platner and made clear that party loyalty, in her view, should not mean ignoring concerns about a candidate.
O’Brien responded sharply. Sharing a link to Watkins’s column, he wrote that political consultants like her would be “first up against the wall when the revolution comes.”
The comment quickly drew criticism, especially because of O’Brien’s public record of calling out people he has accused of holding extremist or neo-Nazi views. Critics pointed to the contrast between that posture and his own use of language that appeared to invoke political violence.
After the backlash, O’Brien said the post was not meant as an actual threat. He described it as a joke and said he had been referencing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the science fiction novel by Douglas Adams. He also said his comment was aimed at what he saw as outsiders lecturing Mainers about their own state.
“That’s not what I said. I was making a joke about people from away Mainesplaining our state because they summered here,” O’Brien wrote. “It was a reference to a quote in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglass Adams.”
He then apologized to anyone who was upset by the remark and said he did not mean to suggest that people should be harmed over political disagreements.
“That said, I apologize to anyone who is upset by this stupid joke,” O’Brien wrote. “I never meant to imply any violent intent against people I disagree with politically. I deplore political violence.”
The controversy comes as Platner is already under scrutiny over past online activity. Old posts from a Reddit account formerly used by Platner recently resurfaced, including graphic sexual comments, political rants, and remarks about military veterans. Many of the posts have since been deleted, but archived versions were saved and have been verified by multiple news outlets.
O’Brien’s post managed to pile even more baggage onto Platner’s already messy campaign, because apparently the candidate’s own resurfaced comments were not enough. And while O’Brien tried to clean it up with an apology, the damage was done, giving critics yet another reason to question the judgment of the people lining up to defend Platner’s Senate bid.
