Democrat Melissa DeRosa riled up progressives in her own party by going on Fox News and declaring she and others will “not cry” over Democrats losing in Maine.

DeRosa joined Fox News’ Bret Baier on Special Report on Tuesday evening, following Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s victory in a Senate primary runoff race against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Paxton had the backing of President Donald Trump.

While discussing Paxton and his past controversies that Democrats could exploit in the general election, DeRosa pointed to the party having a similar problem in Maine with Senate hopeful Graham Platner. Platner is running to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

Platner has been faced with controversy during his campaign. Reports last year pointed out a chest tattoo Platner had of a Nazi SS “Totenkopf” symbol. He’s since covered it up and said he was unaware of the Nazi imagery. Platner got the tattoo while serving in the military.

He has also been hit with backlash over past posts made about a video of an American soldier being shot.

DeRosa, the former chief of staff for ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, told Baier she will not be shedding any tears if Platner loses, and she questioned whether the Democratic Party’s tent should extend to people with “Nazi tattoos.”

She said:

The main race demonstrates the civil war happening in the Democratic party. A lot of Democrats, moderate Democrats like myself, will not cry tears should we lose Maine. That would be a ticket to begin with. How big a tent is the party? Is it big enough for somebody with Nazi tattoos? Big enough for somebody who celebrated a veteran being shot? I say no to that. So we will see. It’s obviously going to be a highly-watched contest. He has the edge right now, but there is a long way until November.

Progressives quickly pounced back, dismissing DeRosa as one of a number of “Cuomo cronies” who simply wants to be paid opposition rather than help Democrats win elections. DeRosa has also worked for former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others.

“I mean what are we doing here,” Democratic strategist Rob Flaherty wrote.

“These aren’t “moderates”, as I’ve always told you, they’re diet MAGA. They’re simply not real democrats,” commentator Kyle Kulinski wrote.

DeRosa argued in her own message on X that the issue in the Democratic Party is “much bigger” than just one Senate race.

“‘Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.’ Don’t kid yourself: this isn’t about one Senate race, there is something much bigger going on right now,” she wrote when sharing a clip from her Fox appearance.

The post was in response to author Shannon Watts making a similar argument about Platner. Other Democrats have also taken issue with Platner’s campaign, with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) arguing this week that Platner’s tattoo is “personally disqualifying.”

“If you were uncommitted about voting for Kamala Harris, you don’t get to criticize fellow Dems for being uncommitted about voting for Graham Platner. Thems the rules,” Watts wrote.

Watch above via Fox News.

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