The finance director of Graham Platner's Senate campaign, Ronald Holmes, has stepped down, marking another high-profile resignation within the embattled team. The Maine Senate hopeful's campaign has faced a series of setbacks, including scrutiny over Platner's past social media activity and a controversial tattoo. Holmes announced his departure on LinkedIn this Friday, following the exits of both the campaign manager and political director earlier this month.

Holmes, who joined Platner's team in August, expressed disillusionment with the direction of the campaign. "I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things," Holmes stated. He later added, "Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign."

This resignation comes on the heels of other notable departures. Kevin Brown, the campaign manager, resigned last week citing family reasons, and political director Genevieve McDonald left earlier, unable to reconcile her values with Platner's previous statements on Reddit, where he had made controversial remarks about communism and sexual assault in the military.

Despite these challenges, Platner's campaign has reported robust fundraising figures, collecting over $3.2 million from primarily small-dollar donors within the first six weeks of his candidacy. A campaign spokesperson emphasized this point, stating, "Ron helped the campaign reach out to big dollar donors, and we appreciated his efforts. But the reality is our campaign's fundraising success has come largely from small dollar donors and online donors, which has been and continues to be run by our digital fundraising director."

Platner, an oysterman turned Senate candidate, recently apologized for his past Reddit posts and covered up his controversial tattoo, which he claimed to have been unaware of its potential Nazi connotations until his campaign began. Despite these controversies, he has actively continued his campaign efforts, including hosting town halls across Maine and launching new ads opposing a voter-identification measure on the state's ballot this November.

Polls show a mixed picture but indicate that Platner remains a strong contender in the Democratic primary, which also features Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates like former congressional staffer Jordan Wood. As the race heats up, Platner’s ability to navigate through these successive controversies will be crucial for his campaign's sustainability and his political future.