ELLSWORTH, Maine — Former Marine Graham Platner’s struggling Senate campaign suffered another setback this week after a former girlfriend alleged he had a tattoo depicting Adolf Hitler choking a naked woman across most of his back.

In a recorded statement released Monday, Platner, flanked by his wife, said he was shocked by the accusation.

“I picked that tattoo because it looked like abstract art,” Platner said. “I had no idea it depicted anything specific. It looked like the kind of abstract expressionism loved by Marines and salt-of-the-earth Americans everywhere.”

Platner added that, now aware of the concerns, he intended to modify the artwork.

“I’m going to have it changed so it’s just a generic man choking a woman,” he said. “That way nobody can read politics into it.”

Another former girlfriend, who he dated while filming the recorded statement, insisted Platner’s denial was disingenuous.

“He called it his ‘Little Führer,’” she said. “He even did the accent marks with his fingers.”

The woman, who requested anonymity, said Platner also used the nickname for his penis.

Campaign officials dismissed the allegation.

“Most Marines struggle with English, let alone German,” a spokesman said.

That explanation appeared viable until another former girlfriend, whom Platner dated while waiting in line at a Green Beans Coffee in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, provided photographs of the tattoo.

Beneath the image appeared a German inscription reading, "Mein Name ist Graham Platner. Das Tattoo ist eine Metapher dafür, wie ich über Frauen denke. Und auch über Juden." The inscription translates to:...