A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.
Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.
Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.
Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.
Still, the allegation sparked a flight away from a candidate who has long been controversial. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who’d stood by Platner even as the insurgent candidate was hit with prior allegations, said Monday’s was enough. “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”
Edit: holy shit, these comments are insane.
Regardless of what you believe with this, Platner likely cannot win anymore. He has a week to do the right thing and drop out before he’s fully locked in. If he actually gives any sort of a shit (and doesn’t just want power, like rapists seeking office tend to), he needs to drop out yesterday.
This is the nail in the coffin for his campaign. It’s not time to defend him no matter what, because there’s still a week where a new candidate can be put into place. Instead of being mad at people not wanting to vote for him, you should start vocally supporting another candidate.
These latest accusations are super credible. And when multiple women have come forward saying someone is a sex pest and have contemporaneous documentation corroborating that, it’s a little hard to just look past.
Why do we insist on backing the guy with multiple rape allegations and a Nazi tattoo? There’s no equally qualified candidate that isn’t a rapist?
Ok. Let’s elect him anyway. Instead of resigning, let’s have him pick a progressive replacement. He can run on the promise of resigning the day after he’s sworn in. That would serve justice and support victims.
Yet, something tells me this obvious solution won’t make people happy, almost like they’re not actually primarily concerned about supporting rape victims…
He can step down now and the Democrats can replace him. Primaries aren’t controlled by the state. The party can do what it wants. So why wait?
Because Kamala. If you have to pick someone short notice, you’ll end up with another unelectable milquetoast corporate Dem.
I’d rather have a milquetoast corporate Dem than a rapist. I’d vote for one quicker than for a rapist anyways.
You’re up against fascists. Your comment translates to
“I’d rather die than fail this purity test”
Credible sexual assault accusations and a Nazi tattoo combined with his blackwater history are indictments on his character. If we’re overlooking rape and Nazi shit we’d just be republicans.
Susan Collins isn’t a fascist.
I often don’t agree with her, but she voted with both the Biden and Obama administrations over 70% of the time.
And I reject that this is a “purity test.” This isn’t them not aligning 100% with some fringe ideology. This is someone who is literally a rapist. Literally raped real women by force.
If this is the best candidate we can put forward, we deserve to lose.
Every single Republican and moderate Democrat, regardless of voting record, is a fascist sympathizer.
“If this is the best candidate we can put forward, we deserve to lose”
OK so you are absolutely saying you would rather die than dirty your hands?
Look man, you’re using a lot of phrases that don’t really mean what you seem to think they do.
“Dirty your hands” usually means that you’ll engage in some mud slinging or attack another candidates family or something. It doesn’t mean supporting someone who has violently raped multiple women.
To turn it back on you, using the terms correctly, are you saying that a rapist with a Nazi tattoo is preferable to a moderate Dem so long as they can pass a purity test?
We all know why, no one wants to say it out loud.
Because he could still be by far the best candidate in the election? Assuming all the allegations are true, if it came down to an election between a supposedly former Nazi sex offender with progressive policies or an open white supremacist with fascist policies that shields rich sex offenders from prosecution, who do you vote for? That’s the kind of elections America has now.
He’s up against Susan Collins, the most liberal Republican Senator. She votes with the Democrats, like, 70% of the time. And, crucially, doesn’t have anyone accusing her of rape.
Edited correction: Has voted with the Democrats 70% of the time during the Obama and Biden administrations. She’s been with the Republicans 95% of the time with the Trump admin so far. But it’s a weird metric as not all votes are equivalent weighty. But is worth noting the the most bipartisan Dem this cycle (Fetterman) has only sided with the Republicans 44% of the time, so she has historically crossed the aisle more than he has.
She only votes against Republican bills when her vote wouldn’t matter. Easy to miss
This person is a liar. A blatant one at that. Susan Collins votes with Trump 96% of the time, about the same as Mitch McConnell.
https://kdsherpa.substack.com/p/moderate-susan-collins-has-voted
Okay, calling me a liar is strong. I was going off the Wikipedia page for her political positions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Susan_Collins
This is what I was referring to with the 70%:
And:
A further review does show her voting close to 95% with the Trump presidency: https://votehub.com/trump-score
I do think “Trump Score” is a misleading statistic, in that not all votes are created equal, so knowing which votes someone defected on is almost if not more important than the number of votes. Look at Fetterman. He has a 40% voting rate with the Trump administration, but to hear it here he’s basically a Republican with a blue tie.
All that to say, Susan Collins has historically been very moderate, and has had reasonable and nuanced takes on important issues.
Planter has almost certainly raped multiple women.
Would I rather a solid Democrat over Susan Collins? Absolutely. But character matters. And that’s true for anybody of either party.
And painting Susan Collins as a far right lunatic is disingenuous at best.
You cherry picked numbers to misrepresent the truth though didn’t ya.
no, that seems like a fair representation.
No, I just hadn’t looked at her numbers since the Biden administration and was working from memory.
You opened with a stat from the Obama administration. How was that in any way relevant?
And she votes for genocide 100% of the time. Just because Platner is out doesn’t make this ghoul a good option. She voted to acquit Trump in his senate impeachment trial because he “learned his lesson “
Look, I don’t like Susan Collins. I’m not saying she’s a good choice. I’m saying she’s better than Platner.
If the Dems put forward someone who isn’t a rapist, I’m all on board.
At the end of the day, character matters. If I have to choose between someone who I disagree with but has morals and someone I generally agree with but is a bad person, I will pick the person with morals.
Paying for the rape and murderer of Palestinians while protecting pedophiles isn’t better. He’s done its not an argument but Collins enables child rapists in. Our government. IDF rapists and genocide.
Platner only has himself to blame here. He wanted to be a champion of workers rights? He shouldn’t have been in so many situations where he forced himself on women.