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.
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.
Here's the only picture I can find of the tattoo, and it's a video of him singing Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus, so bonus:
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/graham-platner-tattoo-row-explained-all-about-the-ss-totenkopf-aka-the-nazi-deaths-head-tattoo/ar-AA1OUdmb
It's a big black blob that I don't think I'd clock as a tottenkopf, and Ive unfortunately seen a lot of Nazi tattoos.
A drunk marine 20 years picking a "skull and bones" off a flash wall in an eastern European country is 100% plausible. I spent too much time around junior marines as well and they really don't ask any questions, they just go with shit.
Picking a tattoo a 12 year old would think is badass and not trying to find out what it means first 100% lines up with a Marines first deployment.
But like I said, I've unfortunately had to interact with full on actual Nazis in the past, similar to that timeframe even. The guys that intentionally get Nazi tattoos don't just stop at one and theyve left a long paper trail of their racism long before that point.
If he got it cuz he was a Nazi, then it wouldn't be the only obvious piece of evidence. A shit ton of people would have came out and said he's a Nazi.
+1. Everyone says Nazi tattoo like it was a swastika lol. The Death Head was pretty well neutralized in 2007. It was in the same tier as barber wire, just an edgy thing people did. Call of Duty offered it as a official emblem you could put on your playercard lol. The ADL didn't even consider it a hate symbol until 2020.
No idea how it is in america, but here in Germany most people would immediately clock it.
I'd never seen or heard of it till hearing people complain about him having it.
It's on his chest, so usually underneath clothes.
It is an exclusively Nazi symbol. It hasn't been neutralized at all, US Americans are just stupid. The goddamn thing is literally in every piece of media featuring SS officers. It's in memes. It's incredibly recognizable to anyone that actually earned their high school diploma. You can argue whether Platner knew what is was when he got it, but you don't get to argue that the totenkopf isn't an exclusively Nazi symbol, because it is, and that's clearly what the tattoo was of. We're not republicans, we don't substitute actual reality with our delusions because it's convenient.
As a child, I was actually interested it history; and, as an edgelord, especially interested in gruesome totalitarian regimes. I played a lot of war-themed games, inevitably many had Nazis. Of course the games aren't usually historically accurate but led me to read more about the actual events.
I had seen the totenkopf decades ago but did not know this was a Nazi symbol until I saw the Mitchell & Webb skit about ten years ago. If you asked me for Nazi logos, I would have come up with the swastika, the SS lightning bolts, and the Adler (which is used by the good guys in the Contra video game series).
(album cover of Singles 1-12 by Melvins, 1997)
Can confirm, Americans stupid; we were never shown this symbol and now our country is infested with fascists.
It is unambiguously a totenkopf, the stylized skull that SS officers had on their caps. It is exclusively a Nazi symbol and is very recognizable as it is featured in basically any media featuring Nazis. It's not similar to a totenkopf; it's clearly and obviously explicitly a totenkopf. You can argue whether he knew what it was or is lying but we're not going to entertain the idea that it isn't what it clearly is. He had a prominently displayed death's head on his chest for 18 years. It was, in no uncertain terms, a Nazi with a capital N tattoo.
In 2026 should someone have recognized it?
Maybe.
But we're talking about 20 fucking years ago chief
You're right, in the mid aughts we had completely forgotten entirely about Nazi Germany and there was no popular media prominently featuring Nazis in any way whatsoever and there's just no way that anyone could recognize a regularly featured exclusively Nazi symbol worn by SS officers. Your Nazi apologism is showing again.
Yup. The people here are so desperate that they'll accept literally anyone who gives them the most basic lip service. It's pathetic.
It will never not be funny to me that people are totally okay with a pirate tattoo, but not a Nazi tattoo. Pirates routinely raped, tortured, murdered and pillaged.
Pillaged yes, raped/tortured? That's iffy. Murder I'm sure happened, but take Blackbeard for instance, all intimidation, never had to kill anyone until he was attacked by the Navy and killed.
Many of the successful pirates like Bart Roberts had rules about rape.
Every crew had their own rules, but if you want to make a list of bad things pirates did you might want to put slavery at the top. Think there was more pirates that stole slaves and resold them then there were murdering people without reason.
Slavery should definitely be on the list, your right.
Pirates may not have raped people on the boats they took, because there often weren't any. The pubescent cabin boys and powder monkeys were a different story however.
As far as torture, lashings were the standard baseline punishment. Edward Low was known to be particularly violent and liked cutting ears off people on ships he boarded. Keelhauling wasn't as universal as media would indicate, but it was an actual practice.