New Delhi, Oct. 22 -- Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate running for the US Senate in Maine, who defended a series of controversial Reddit posts he made between 2013 and 2021, said they were intended to provoke reactions rather than reflect his true beliefs.

"That was me trying to get a rise out of people on the Internet," Platner told Tommy Vietor on Pod Save America. "Those weren't even reflective of my opinions back then."

He added that voters in Maine would see past the controversy when they meet him in person on the campaign trail. "People are going to recognize that this is not at all the person that they have come to know, and come to interact with in reality," he said.

Despite his defense, Platner issued an apology in a vid...