Graham Platner raised the possibility of dropping his Senate bid in Maine after Politico on Monday reported allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021.
Platner denied the allegations, which are the latest in a string of controversies facing the Democratic candidate in one of the country’s most competitive Senate races.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” Platner said in a video Monday, in reference to the senator he’s running against.
The woman, Jenny Racicot, previously dated Platner and told Politico that he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago.
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Racicot, who was quoted in a New York Times article last month about Platner’s alleged intimidating behavior toward women, told Politico that Platner drunkenly entered her home without an invitation in 2021 and forced himself onto her after she told him not to.
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”
Politico reported that Racicot decided to share her account in part because the response to The New York Times’ story centered on another woman’s account and her ties to Republican politics.
In response to a request for comment from NOTUS, the Platner campaign sent the same statements it had made to Politico in response to its reporting.
“These allegations are troubling, serious, and false,” Platner said in the statement. “Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.”
“These allegations are very serious and Graham vigorously denies them,” his campaign said. “They are also coached and coordinated by out of state establishment operatives. For a year, opponents of this campaign have thrown everything they can at Graham –– calling him a Nazi, a war criminal, and a communist. None of it has been true and this is no different.”
“It is not a coincidence that this story comes a week before the ballot deadline, just as the previous false allegations came a week before the primary,” the statement continued. “Graham began this campaign to fight for a Maine where everyone is treated with dignity and where Mainers are put first, and no amount of desperate smears will stop this movement from seeing that vision through.”
Platner in June cruised to the Democratic nomination in Maine on a populist campaign. By then, however, he had already had to answer for a number of revelations that included a fraught social media history and a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. Many Democrats were concerned about that baggage, given how critical picking up the Maine seat is in their efforts to win back the Senate.
Ahead of the Politico article dropping Monday, the Platner campaign postponed a string of campaign events. They included a town hall in Augusta, Maine, on Sunday, and a town hall with the Gorham Democrats on Monday, while a previously scheduled town hall in Sanford was unlisted on his campaign event website, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Maine’s deadline for candidates withdrawing from the ballot is July 13.
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