Graham Platner, Who Attended Elite Prep School Thanks to Lawyer Father and Renowned Architect Grandfather, Says He’s ‘Never Been Close to Money and Power’

Chairs designed by Platner’s grandfather, Cornell grad Warren Platner, sell for nearly $20,000

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner says he isn’t worried about more unflattering stories coming out about him because he’s “lived a fairly simple life” and has “never been close to money and power.” It’s an interesting characterization, given that Platner attended an elite Connecticut boarding school that costs upwards of $75,000 and is the grandson of a world-famous architect known for designing $20,000 chairs.

Platner’s remarks came during a Tuesday interview with MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki, who gave Platner the opportunity to put into “context” any controversial “things” from his “past” that may “come to light.” Platner declined, arguing that—apart from his unearthed Reddit comments and Nazi tattoo—there is little more to learn about his modest existence.

“I’m pretty sure the reason they led with internet comments and the tattoo I got in the Marine Corps is because this is what they have,” Platner said. “I’ve not lived a boring life, but I have lived a fairly simple life. I’ve never been close to money and power, I’ve never had the ability to screw people over.”

Clad in a plaid shirt, sleeves rolled up, Platner has cultivated a working-class image on the campaign trail, but he appears to come from a wealthy family. His father, Bronson Platner, served as an assistant district attorney in Maine, ran unsuccessfully for state senate, and operated his own law practice for more than 30 years. He also chaired the board of a local nonprofit that maintained ties to former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, former secretary of defense William Cohen, and former Maine governor Joseph Brennan, according to a 1984 Ellsworth American article.

Platner’s grandfather, Warren Platner, was a world-famous architect known for creating “a furniture collection that has proved to be an enduring icon of 1960’s Modernism” and for designing “several prominent interiors in New York, including offices for the Ford Foundation building and the original Windows on the World restaurant,” as the New York Times put it in when he died in 2006. Pieces from that collection are still available for purchase: The “Platner Easy Chair” sells for $19,395, while the 60-inch “Platner dining table,” a “bestseller,” costs $7,283. The “Platner Stool” starts at a more modest $2,395.

A Cornell University graduate, Warren Platner’s “opulent modernism” designs earned him many plaudits: He received the Rome Prize in architecture in 1955 and was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1985. He remained active in his architectural firm around the time of his death, “working on projects including a new shopping center in Greece,” according to the Times.

Platner himself attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., in 1999, the Washington Free Beacon reported. It’s considered America’s number one boarding school and boasts extracurricular offerings like a 287-acre farm, a 220,000-square-foot “state-of-the-art” athletic facility featuring squash courts and two ice skating rinks, and study abroad opportunities in France, Italy, Spain, and the Bahamas. Its alumni include a Supreme Court justice and a CIA director. Tuition and fees for boarding students sit at $77,240 a year.

Mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post and New Yorker have characterized Platner as a rugged, working-class oyster farmer without acknowledging his boarding school background and familial ties. In a profile of Platner, GQ did acknowledge Platner’s “prominent local attorney” grandfather and “leading modernist architect” grandfather—but presented them as a potential selling point for his campaign rather than a contradiction.

“What makes Maine particularly interesting is that its lawmakers have not … historically presented as hardscrabble or even blue-collar,” the profile reads. “Erudite, bookish senators … were all popular in the state, and the percentage of voters with bachelor’s degrees is not especially low.”

“Platner, if he so chooses, has the ability to appeal to that tradition. He does not hail from a line of oyster farmers.”