Graham Platner’s campaign to unseat Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) has drawn fire from both Republicans and skeptical Democrats. His now infamous tattoo has managed to get under-the-skin of many otherwise liberal voters. Some say he doesn’t have the right experience to run. Both concerns may be overblown.

Personally, I have two tattoos of my own, one in Korean, the other, Spanish. I speak enough Korean and Spanish to safely know what my tattoos were saying. I was in my 60’s when I finally fulfilled my secret desire to get a tattoo. But for many others, getting a tattoo is often part of a youthful, party-filled weekend or night out. In fact, there’s a blog, Hanzi Smatter, where the author invites people to submit images of their tattoos to find out what they really mean. A surprising number of folks get tattoos written in Chinese, Japanese or Korean that ironically don’t mean what they thought. The intended meaning was lost in translation or engraved by an artist who had no connection to the culture or language depicted in the tattoo. Is Graham Platner’s claim that he didn’t know the history or meaning of his tattoo plausible? Hell yes.

Another criticism circulating about Platner’s campaign is that he hasn’t done his due diligence to run for a Senate seat–that he is, therefore, not qualified. Some would be surprised to know that a number of notable U.S. Senators ran without prior government experience. Senator Elizabeth Warren won her seat as Senator from Massachusetts leveraging her academic experience at Harvard University. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and John Glenn (D-Ohio) both won largely on their career success as U.S. astronauts. Most famous for his stint as a successful NBA Star, Bill Bradley (D-NJ), with expertise in economics and a background as a Rhodes Scholar, won a Senate seat without prior government experience.

What Platner brings is his experience as a four-time veteran serving 8-years in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He also offers a small business skill set honed as an oyster farmer along the coast of Maine. He serves as harbormaster and Chair of his town’s Planning Committee. No, not your typical internship for becoming a U.S. Senator. But a case can be made that as a populist and someone who adamantly questions the current state of politics-as-usual, he brings the right tools, and a better sense of what his constituents want from their government. A better question might be, “Does Platner bring the right skills and experience to challenge the political landscape, to influence change, and to ignite the passion of his constituents and represent their needs?

Platner has been endorsed by Maine’s AFL-CIO Chapter and by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He has also been endorsed by The League of Conservation Voters, the VoteVets PAC, Veterans for Responsible Leadership, and the Maine People’s Alliance. Their respective endorsements certainly suggest their belief in his qualifications for a Senate position.

More and more Mainers who have heard his message seem to be getting on board. Collins’s commercials keep making now bland accusations about “the tattoo” and other controversial social media messages Platner made years ago and for which he has apologized countless times. It’s not lost on many observers, including this one, that Platner’s past has unexpectedly become his path on a campaign that has Susan Collins facing the most serious challenge of her career.