WASHINGTON, May 4 -- A gruff oyster farmer who only recently got rid of his Nazi-style tattoo is the unlikely face of the Democrats' bid to seize the Senate from President Donald Trump's Republicans - and recover working-class voters.

That a man like Graham Platner finds himself on the front line of the fight for national power in the United States says a lot about a Democratic Party trying to find its way out of the wilderness.

Democrats are bullish about winning the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections. But the Senate - and ability to wield real power during Trump's last two years - is a far tougher challenge.

Enter Platner, a 41-year-old former Marine who talks movingly of his opposition to war after serving in A...