{"id":288821,"date":"2026-07-07T03:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T03:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/288821\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T03:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T03:24:18","slug":"graham-platner-bleeding-support-after-rape-allegation-reps-ro-khanna-maine-dems-and-others-call-on-embattled-candidate-to-end-senate-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/288821\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Platner bleeding support after rape allegation \u2014 Reps. Ro Khanna, Maine Dems and others call on embattled candidate to end Senate bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic support for Graham Platner cratered Monday after the embattled Maine Senate candidate was accused of rape<\/a> by an ex-girlfriend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrats from across the country, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of Platner\u2019s most ardent supporters, and the Maine Democratic Party, called on the former oyster farmer to end his Senate bid amid the disturbing allegation \u2013 describing it as \u201ccredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing \u2013 violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable,\u201d Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chairwoman Kirsten Gillibrand said in a joint statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jenny Racicot, Graham Platner\u2019s ex-girlfriend, alleged that the Maine Senate hopeful drunkenly broke into her home and raped her about five years ago.
\n AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty<\/p>\n

Jenny Racicot, Graham Platner\u2019s ex, accused the scandal-scarred Maine Senate hopeful of raping her five years ago. CNN<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins,\u201d Schumer and Gillibrand continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The senators warned that the DSCC \u2013 Senate Democrats\u2019 campaign and fundraising arm \u2013 \u201cwill not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,\u201d Khanna wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThese allegations are very serious and credible.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenny Racicot, Platner\u2019s ex-girlfriend, alleged in a Politico piece<\/a> published Monday that the Maine Senate hopeful drunkenly broke into her home and raped her about five years ago.<\/p>\n

The rape allegation follows several other disturbing accounts from Platner\u2019s exes, who described enduring alleged physical and mental abuse from the Democratic Senate hopeful in a New York Times story last month.<\/p>\n

Khanna notably stood by Platner after the June New York Times piece \u2013 in which he was accused of twisting an ex-girlfriend\u2019s arm and yanking her out of taxi cab, and was said to have fantisized about killing people and raping intruders\u00a0 \u2013\u00a0 arguing that Platner \u201ctook accountability\u201d <\/a>for his actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Khanna, the Maine Democratic Party also called on Platner to drop out of his high-stakes midterm race against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner. Today\u2019s statements take those allegations even further,\u201d Maine Democratic Party leaders said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMaine Democratic Party leadership is calling on Graham Platner to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for US Senate,\u201d the statement continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement,\u201d California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said Monday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) also pulled his support for Platner after staunchly backing the Maine upstart. Nathan Posner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The party did not say who should take up the mantle should Platner drop out of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), another staunch Platner supporter, also withdrew his support in light of the rape allegation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious.I am rescinding my endorsement,\u201d Gallego wrote on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the bombshell sex allegations against lefty Senate candidate Graham Platner:<\/p>\n

Florida Democratic Senate candidate Alex Vindman tweeted<\/a>: \u201cAs a dad and husband, I have zero tolerance for physical or sexual misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always called balls and strikes regardless of party, and in this case, I believe Graham Platner should immediately drop out,\u201d Vindman declared. \u201cThese allegations are extremely serious, disturbing, and disqualifying.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama\u2019s chief strategist, argued \u201cmany Mainers were willing to look past previous stories about [Platner]\u201d because of his political message, but \u201cthe latest allegation of sexual assault can\u2019t be explained away or excused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlatner seems to know that, too,\u201d Axelrod said in an X post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In response to the allegation, Platner said his campaign will take time \u201cto reflect on the best path forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Platner described the allegation as \u201ctroubling, serious and false.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic support for Graham Platner cratered Monday after the embattled Maine Senate candidate was accused of rape by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12827,5315,46937,9,11,10,87,3018,855,58],"class_list":["post-288821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-graham-platner","tag-maine","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-rape","tag-senate","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}