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.
I think your edit outlines that we are just going to disagree. The US has its flaws, no question, but I'm a far cry from calling it an imperialist hellhole. I like the US as a whole, and we may not be the "Greatest Nation In The World"™, and we've certainly been involved in our share of bad stuff. But I also think we've been on the right side of history a fair few times as well, and the average American has it pretty well off.
Now, I think this current administration is certainly going out of its way to destroy a lot of that. I agree that ICE is certainly gestapo adjacent (though not what we were talking about when I brought them up.) I agree that the rule of law is being stretched a little thin at the moment.
But, crucially, this is all stuff we've seen before. Andrew Jackson literally told the Supreme Court to try and enforce their ruling with whatever army they had to do so, and then kicked off the Trail of Tears. We've literally had a full scale Civil War and come back together as a nation afterwards. It's nowhere near as bad off as it has been before, and we survived it, and we absolutely will again.
It requires bold leaders in the civic arena who can stand up for decency and the rule of law. Not some tribalist nonsense where we advocate for killing anyone who doesn't wave our particular color of flag.
I'm sorry you've given up hope, but I promise we've come back from far worse as a nation. Two years from now we'll likely have a Democrat in the White House (if the party doesn't screw the pooch again), and we can start rebuilding. We're already seeing a blue wave take off in the House and Senate. In a couple years we can start rebuilding. Which doesn't diminish the damage that has been done, which is extensive.
But I think what we're seeing is the final throes of a dying party, and once the current administration is out, we'll see a big restructuring of the Republican party, as most of their voter base is passing on. The Overton Window will shift a good bit left, and we'll begin seeing slow but measured and sustainable progress forward.
I appreciate your sense of hope and optimism though I agree that we will certainly not see eye to eye here.
From my position I view the United States as the most direct and immediate threat to long term growth for the human race. I'm an engineer first and everything else second so for me it's a question of optimization. The US is holding back more efficient systems of resource allocation which is sub-optimal and that is fundamentally unacceptable.
I've appreciated the back and forth :)