US politician Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate over allegations of rping his ex, multiple sxual assaults and dating violence
US Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, Graham Platner, who had been seeking a seat considered crucial for his party in next November’s midterm elections, finally bowed to pressure on Wednesday night and announced that he was ending his campaign after a woman accused him of sexual assault in a Politico exclusive published this week Monday.
He made the announcement in a video posted on X, bringing to an end 72 agonizing hours during which Platner tested the patience of his own party as prominent figures — including many who had previously supported him, publicly called on him to withdraw.
His withdrawal opens a process to find a replacement. Democrats must now nominate a new candidate before July 27. According to several U.S. media outlets, Platner delayed stepping aside because his campaign hoped to influence the decision regarding who would replace him on the November ballot.
“We are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said in a visibly emotional video. “This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not.”
This week’s revelations were not entirely new. Platner, an Army veteran whose plainspoken style appeared to embody the kind of candidate Democrats had been seeking to counter their image as an out-of-touch elite, had already been the subject of reports concerning inappropriate behavior toward three women.
Moreover, he had previously found himself at the center of controversy over a Nazi tattoo he got years ago, which he claimed he did not fully understand at the time.
Those controversies did not prevent him from winning his party’s primary in Maine by a wide margin on June 9, earning the chance to challenge veteran Senator Susan Collins, one of the few Republicans in Washington willing to criticize U.S. President Donald Trump.
Polls have shown Collins in a vulnerable position, largely because, at age 73, she is perceived as part of a political system dominated by an aging leadership. Platner, a progressive who recently transitioned from oyster farming to politics at age 41, had previously defeated Governor Janet Mills, a representative of the party’s mainstream wing.
The allegation that ultimately ended his brief political career came from Jenny Radicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident. She had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years. One night in 2021, he allegedly entered her home while drunk and, according to her account, forced himself on her. Radicot was one of the three women featured in earlier allegations reported by The New York Times, although she did not accuse him of sexual assault in that publication.
Platner denied the allegations on Monday, calling them “troubling, serious, and false,” an argument he repeated on Wednesday. Shortly after Politico published its report, the candidate responded with a video on social media. While calling the reporting inaccurate, he said his campaign was “mindful” of the impact of the allegations and had decided to “take time to reflect on the best path forward.”
Over the following hours, prominent Democratic senators withdrew their support, along with the party leadership in the Senate and a number of members of Congress. Maine Democrats also urged him to end his campaign and, in the days that followed, criticized his attempts to influence the choice of his successor.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani also called on Platner to step aside. The socialist politician said he considered that “the only appropriate response” in light of the latest allegations
Platner defended himself against the earlier accusations by pointing to the effects of his military service, including episodes of post-traumatic stress, depression, and alcohol abuse. He also described his inappropriate behavior toward women as a matter of the past.
And in a statement to The New York Times, Platner said he had “too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend” during what he described as a “very dark period of my life.”
“I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” he said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.”
Four months before an election in which Democrats hoped to flip Maine’s Senate seat, that movement, whose future now enters uncharted territory — has come to an abrupt end.