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.
She did not delete all evidence. She deleted her messages to Platner. There's a difference and it's disgusting that you're pushing misinformation in order to prop up a rapist.
Read the article carefully
There's a story from the accuser, and a mention of recent emails between her and her therapist that have no specifics. All corroborating people associated are choosing to be anonymous (so might be made up entirely for all we know.) All direct evidence mentioning specifics has been "deleted"
The most compelling evidence presented in the Politico is this chat conversation with another anonymous person with no time stamps
https://static.politico.com/ed/f5/4412f6b44946866944ef85fd8a96/platner-screenshot-1.JPG
https://static.politico.com/61/c2/67b004f844f291369865043ed027/platner-screenshot-4.JPG
So let's assume the chat is real, and happened when claimed, which is giving a lot of grace at this point. It says he is "consensually careless" when drunk. Is that how you would describe your rapist? Interestingly, if there was a response to the direct question of "does he force himself on people " it's cut off from the chat. Weird.
Anonymous sources in news stories aren't anonymous to the reporter so for them to be made up it would have to include the reporter in the conspiracy. But if there is corruption in the story they make it hard to verify.
Considering this whole story came from a source who is literally making a profit off of the settler colonialism in Israel, I wouldn't put anything past them
Fuck you! Dont fucking diminish rape like that to an insult against your perceived enemies. Thats crueler to victims of actual rape than you think and d Lowers the reality of it.
Go absolutely fuck yourself.
Questioning rape victim’s accounts and actively working to discredit them is what diminishes rape.
Boohoo. People have questions. If you have ever been the victim you realize that those will be all you get for a while. Questions dont hurt nearly as much as people tossing the idea of abuse around like a joke or an easy insult.
I have, stop pretending like you’re the only one to ever have been raped.
What kindness you show. Such empathy. Really makes me believe you care about anyone.
As much kindness and empathy that’s being shown to Platner’s victim.
So you see cruelty and decide you should be allowed to dish some out yourself as a little treat to yourself? Yeah that is fucked. I treat people as the individual for their actions and inactions. In this moment and thread, I am responding to you alone and your words that disgust me.
"Actual rape" my guy you're a rapist who hasn't offended yet.
You are disgusting.
Interesting that that's what you say when someone is asking questions
This is just funny and I would recommend the same to you. Time to do a little research into Politico
Imagine all of your comments having the same amount of upvotes immediately like as if you had multiple accounts. But hey using upvotes in Lemmy would also be a hugely childish way to think you won an argument right?
And because I dont care about the updoots that i wont get and just want to make sure you hear it 1 more time. You can absolutely go get fucked as hard as life can.
Oh hey, the mods came and saved you again! No worries, I'll just repost it:
Must be wild having to rely on the cops coming and saving you from a losing argument, lmao.
Also I don't give a fuck about votes, I just find it hysterical you're getting ratioed on your own liberal hellworld by a socialist. It's telling of how godawful your comments are. And the idea I'm upvoting myself is equally hilarious because votes are public on Lemmy and usually your .world brethren dogpile on socialists.
When you're asking questions like this, yes, it makes you sound like a rapist.
You know what my rapists sounded like? "Son, you know you are most handsome boy right?"
"Hey, are your parents around?"
"I heard you like to be helpful and are a giver, why dont you give me something."
You can fuck off.
This has nothing to do with the accusations against Platner.
Would you have preferred to have been told you’re lying about being raped?
And neither does your comment.
I was told that. I was also questioned a lot by lots of people and ignored over and over. Your take isnt helpful like you think it is and won't hear it because you want to think its good for victims.
Comparing people interacting with the story to raping is fucked up. It is not helpful and you silence the conversations that need to happen even if they are uncomfortable.
There's a lot riding on discrediting Graham. He is the most promising progressive candidate in the northeast right now and is aggressively anti-billionaire and anti-establishment. He has over ten thousand volunteers and has the oligarchy scared. Yes I am dubious of this extremely conveniently timed account that has extremely scant hard evidence, being reported from a website who has only painted Graham in extremely critical ways.
The owners of Politico are openly libertarian zionists. Consider the source.
This is incredibly weak copium.
Your man signed up to the military to murder, did the murdering, got out with the second-most recognizable Nazi tattoo on his chest. Then he signs up for Blackwater and rapes a woman.
This is your guy. A progressive winner. Whatever it takes to beat Collins, right? You're a reactionary.
So all those Trump rape reports are fake too, right? Or is it only Democrats who can't ever do rape?
Do you honestly just absorb everything you read on the internet with no regard to who said it or where it came from? Do I really need to explain to you why it matters who is saying it and why?
Hey buddy dude dropped out, you can stop being awful now.
So rape is good when your team does it.
With all the vitriol in the comments on Lemmy alone, is it any wonder why these people want to stay anonymous?
You're nitpicking a rape victim's phrasing about the rape she endured. YOU are part of the reason rape victims are afraid to come forward. Look at how you're talking about this.
Honestly the most disgusting comments seem to be from the people "standing up" for the victim.
We dont come forwards cause people dont like to actually talk about it or deal with real consequences. We have a world not set up for victims to be taken seriously cause strong means right and we dont have space for being sad for them and helping them overcome it. People just want to be "good". But we can't talk about what that entails or what to do when people fail to live up to it without extremes.
She chose to come forward. We should respect what she has to say as the victim in this circumstance.
Am I saying anything about her personally?
This is serious and has serious implications, however ignoring the timing and choices made here is beyond naive. Politico in particular has had it out for Graham since October 2025
Saying "believe women" is not a magic mind control spell
And claiming a rape victim is lying isn't a magic save-the-campaign motto.
I've just been on the internet too long to automatically believe everything I read, especially when it comes from a very motivated source
Yeah, this woman magically knew that Platner was going to run for office years and years ago when she advised her friend to not set someone up with Platner because he doesn't respect consent.
I've been on the internet long enough to know that the knee-jerk reaction is to not believe rape victims. People in general don't believe victims.
And you want me to believe that a man with a history of mercenary work in Afghanistan, past comments that blame rape victims for being raped and talking about how much he enjoyed killing brown people, and other sexual assault accusations is completely innocent here?
Maybe not, maybe he did something stupid, but at this point the fact that AIPAC is dredging whatever they can up against him is more of an endorsement than a condemnation. If people who are actively cheering on the atrocities being committed in Gaza are telling me to be wary of Graham, that's not the nail in the coffin they think it is.
Imagine being so weak-minded where you base your own behavior off of the words of your ideological enemies.
Someone you were told to hate says jumping off a cliff is bad. You should check that out — according to the very logic of your child-like attempt at justifying one of the biggest train wrecks of a candidate the American left has ever attempted to field.
It's Platner's fault that there are scandals to be dug up at all.