Democrats begin pulling Platner endorsements after Maine candidate faces sexual assault allegation

2026-07-06 21:46 UTC

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.

Replies (26)

@BigMacHole@thelemmy.club 2026-07-06 22:02

DAMMIT! After the FIRST Republican hit piece I said I don’t care PLATNER is my Guy but now that there’s a SECOND Republican hit piece with the EXACT same Allegation I guess I have NO CHOICE but to Vote for the People who will CONTINUE Protecting the Epstein Class!

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@tgirlschierke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-07-08 19:37

That’s what did it? Not the Nazi shit?

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@Godric@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 04:16

ITT: “Believe Women! Unless they accuse someone I agree with politically of rape”

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@limonfiesta@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 03:17

Still better than the alternative. Sucks. That’s the choice, but it is what it is.

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@CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 03:17

This smacks of bullshit.

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@nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-07-06 22:30

The woman came forward to the NYT earlier to get on record but held back the story until another accuser came forward. She has contemporaneous emails with her therapist dealing with the fallout and people in her life she told the story to around the time it happened who can confirm it, as well as woman she warned after cutting contact with Platner. These allegations are as credible as they get and some of the reactions to this story are frankly disgusting. politico.com/…/graham-platner-sexual-assault-alle…

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@givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2026-07-06 21:59

Coming out exactly a week before the candidate can be switched makes this fishy… If they wanted a real investigation, they’d have said it earlier. And if he is guilty, he can just pull a Cuomo and run anyways. But if he’s innocent and cares most about beating Republicans, he might drop anyways like Al Franken.

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@PurpleHawkeye619@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 03:56

This is why you disqualify the guy with the nazi tattoo immediately… Anyone with judgements that bad us going to have more skeletons in the closet

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@NM_Gringo@lemmy.world 2026-07-06 22:39

It’s no wonder Democrats are losers. They panic over a story that can’t be confirmed. Republicans still support a guy who forced himself on a 13 y/o girl, probably more than once. Stop this nonsense or remain the party of losers.

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@ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-07-07 04:23

Didn’t we already know this months ago?

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@some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 04:39

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@Suavevillain@lemmy.world 2026-07-06 22:30

People let some Nazi merc slide because he broke out the working class starter pack dialogue choices. We need to return to context clues and some basic morals. Having a Nazi tattoo is instantly disqualifying in any party but the Republican one.

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@prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-07-07 04:45

Sometimes I fucking hate being correct

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@Formfiller@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 04:54

Either way AIPAC won America lost

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@tubthumper@lemmy.world 2026-07-06 22:41

I genuinely do not know what to believe anymore. Edit: the timing and optics might be poor, but I at least believe we should consider this credible. Platner should have to defend himself here, not her. Edit edit: Trauma has no timeline.

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@KC_Royalz@lemmy.world 2026-07-06 22:54

Sounds like Republicans making shit up because they’re scared. I for one don’t give a fuck. Hope he stays in the race and wins. Republicans protect pedophiles

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@speaksintv@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 06:13

Absolutely stunning that an allegation (I reserve judgement) can bring down a Dem. But scrotus literally told don chomo to pay up $6 million for raping E. Jean Carroll this week and it’s fuckign criiiiickets

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@wpb@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 06:21

The guy with the nazi tattoo on his chest turned out to be a POS? What? This has to be some sort of mistake. This seems so uncharacteristic. Sometimes, reality truly is stranger than fiction. Also a big fuck you to everyone that defended him. We told you so. We told you so, and you didn’t listen. You people are so dense. Anyway, talk to you with the next obvious Obama/Letterman/Planter situation, where you’ll make the exact same fucking mistake, because this time it really is different.

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@AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 2026-07-08 03:27

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” ― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Just hold a lottery for the senate / house seat. No politics, no filtering.

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@Nefara@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 16:28

Everyone saying it’s more credible than the last accusation, when the bar was on the floor for the last one. A woman is coming forward at the absolute most politically expedient time for the billionaires (not when he started his campaign, not when he started getting national attention) who voluntarily deleted all evidence of the incident herself but obliquely mentioned some vaguely troublesome things to some people who will all remain anonymous. Ah yes truly we must all be fools for taking this with a grain of salt.

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@ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2026-07-07 22:34

Some democrats believe they need this Senate sit so bad they are willing to simply ignore those allegations. I get it, even if those allegations are true he can still help stop Trump and push some socialist policies. Republicans do this all the time: screen loudly the allegations are false so they can claim they don’t believe them, not simply don’t care about them. Platner will most likely wait to see how this affect his chances. If he can still win he will keep running. In the future Dems should look for less sketchy candidates.

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@lostoncalantha@lemmy.world 2026-07-08 01:05

Damn liberal democrats are such pussies and this comment section confirms. Republicans can do whatever the hell they want including fascism rape and murder but the democrats at tea time are in a tiff. Good luck winning back the senate.

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@FE80@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 18:03

The Democratic establishment would rather lose to Susan Collins than win with an outsider candidate. The fact that Bill Clinton is accepted in polite society and Platner has to be banished demonstrates that sexual scandals are a cudgel to be wielded selectively.

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@kandoh@reddthat.com 2026-07-08 19:00

Just reading the comments on this you can see a lot of Lemmy users have a massive mysogyny problem. They wanted their special white boy working class savior so goddamn bad they’re willing to look theother way on: Nepotism (he sells oysters to his mommy) Nazism Blackwater war tourism Rape Just no principles or character at all.

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@khepri@lemmy.world 2026-07-07 18:37

If Platner wants to defend himself publicly on this, and/or keep running, and/or sue the accuser for libel, he’s free to do any or all of that. As anyone who’s been around for a few cycles know, its pretty common for candidates and other public figures, when they first reach a certain terminal level of attention or fame, to get a wide range of accusations on business, personal matters, drug use, and past sexual behavior. Just because these appear to be conveniently timed politically, is not evidence for or against their veracity. If there is no actual juice to these accusations, then dealing with people who lob bombs like that into the middle of campaigns is a well-worn playbook that thousands of politicians have run and won with, and he’ll be fine. If.

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@uberdroog@lemmy.world 2026-07-08 13:29

Called this. Haha down voters.

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