“One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” she said. “I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person.”

That night in late 2021, she said she had exchanged text messages with him and told him not to come over, saying she wasn’t in the mood for company. Later that evening, she said she realized when she heard a sound on the stairs that he had let himself into her house, which was unlocked.

Platner came up the stairs, Racicot said, to where she was on a couch. He got on top of her and kept grabbing her, she said, while she repeatedly told him to stop and that she wasn’t interested. Racicot said she smelled alcohol on his breath and believed he was “almost blackout drunk” because Platner ignored her protests and continued to grab her after knocking over an antique sewing kit, spilling small needles everywhere.

“I had been telling him these words, like: ‘No, don’t,’” she recalled.

“And, the look on his face and realizing what was happening, I just realized that, like, I am in a situation where there’s no consent here,” she said.

Racicot said she tried to separate herself from Platner by telling him she couldn’t be in that room anymore, after which he followed her to her bedroom and had sex with her against her will. She said he also ejaculated inside of her despite her telling him not to, as she was not using birth control at the time.

She went to clean herself up, she said, and when she returned, Platner had fallen asleep. She contemplated waking him up to kick him out, but worried he could hurt someone driving in the state he was in.

The following morning, she said, Platner tried to put his arm around her and she pushed him away. She said she asked him whether he remembered what had happened the previous night; according to Racicot, Platner said he didn’t remember. Racicot said she told him to leave and never contact her again.

Racicot said she waited several weeks until she got her period to ensure she wasn’t pregnant, then sent Platner a private message on Instagram saying that the encounter was not consensual and she did not want to hear from him ever again. Racicot had no further contact with him after that, she said. Racicot said she later deleted all her texts and social media correspondence with Platner as she tried to move on from the assault, and said she has not been able to recover the Instagram messages she sent him about the incident.

In the weeks after the alleged assault, Racicot said she considered going to the police but struggled with shock and confusion about what had happened to her and did not file a police report. Even as time passed, she said she felt uncomfortable potentially telling a police officer about such a personal experience, and feared retaliation from Platner. At first, she confided only in her therapist, who she continues to see.

Racicot showed POLITICO recent emails with her therapist in which Racicot explained she was talking to the media about her relationship with Platner and the “sa/rape,” using an abbreviation for sexual assault. In the message, Racicot was not ready to go public and was seeking help corroborating her account in conversations she was having with reporters on condition of anonymity. Her therapist responded that Racicot shouldn’t have to speak publicly about a traumatic incident in order to be believed, without referencing details of any particular incident. The therapist, who POLITICO agreed not to name at her request, declined to comment when reached on Monday.

Racicot also shared details about the alleged assault to the man she dated after Platner, who she began dating in 2022. The man, who was granted anonymity out of concern for his personal privacy, told POLITICO that Racicot had told him in bits and pieces about a bad experience with Platner before confiding the full details of what had happened in 2023. His account of what Racicot told him about the incident matched what Racicot told POLITICO.

Racicot shared with POLITICO a series of private Facebook messages she exchanged with an acquaintance in 2023, about a year and a half after the alleged assault and well before Platner launched his political career, in which she cautioned the acquaintance against getting involved with Platner. In the messages, Racicot said she had “ended up in a bad situation with him,” describing Platner as “consensually careless” and saying he “doesn’t listen to you when drunk.” Reached by POLITICO, the acquaintance said she received the messages but declined to comment; POLITICO granted her anonymity at her request to protect her privacy in her Maine community.

He should end the campaign.