A woman who dated Graham Platner, the Maine Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, told Politico and CNN that he sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago.Politico reported Monday that Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, detailed the sexual assault allegations in three exclusive interviews that were conducted over the past two weeks.According to Politico, Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years before he entered her home uninvited one night in late 2021. Racicot claimed Platner was deeply intoxicated and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop.”I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Racicot told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'”According to Racicot, Platner did not remember what happened that night when she asked him about it the morning after. She said she told him to leave and never contact her again. Racicot said she waited several weeks to ensure she was not pregnant, and then sent Platner a private message on Instagram saying the encounter was not consensual and that she did not want to hear from him ever again. Racicot also spoke about the sexual assault allegations with CNN’s chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper during Monday evening’s episode of “The Lead with Jake Tapper.””This is a person I have known and have trusted and have had very consensual relationships with, like, all along — until it wasn’t,” Racicot told Tapper. “So that was a really hard thing to understand, that this was a person I trusted.”Politico also said they spoke with another man Racicot dated and had confided in years after the alleged incident. The publication also said it reviewed a number of documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.In the wake of the Politico report, leaders in the Maine Democratic Party have called upon Platner to drop out of the race.”Maine Democratic Party leadership takes seriously our responsibility to hold every candidate who seeks to represent our state to the highest standard. Over the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner. Today’s statements take those allegations even further,” Maine Democratic Party chair Charlie Dingman, vice chair Imke Schessler and executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson said in a joint statement. “Maine Democratic Party leadership is calling on Graham Platner to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. The Maine Democratic Party leadership stands with women and survivors, and that principle does not bend based on party affiliation. We respect the women who made the hard decision to come forward. Speaking up is often costly. We are entrusted with deciding who represents our values and who carries our banner. That responsibility requires judgment, leadership, and a willingness to act when circumstances demand it. This Senate race comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle against a government, supported by Senator Collins, that serves the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of ordinary Maine people. It is essential that we refocus this campaign on that struggle.”Video below: Maine political analysts react to fallout from sexual assault allegation brought against Graham Platner”Survivors deserve to be believed, supported, and protected. Over the last month, multiple women have come forward with serious allegations against Graham Platner. I stand with each of them and with any survivor who has endured an experience like this. Sexual violence has absolutely no place in our society, and it cannot be tolerated from those seeking our highest positions of power,” Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry said in a statement. “To that end, I am calling on Mr. Platner to withdraw his candidacy immediately. Maine deserves a nominee for U.S. Senate with the dignity, judgment, and personal character this seat demands.””Today’s revelations, on top of months of allegations and controversies, make it clear that Graham’s campaign cannot be successful,” Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said in a statement. “The movement that Graham’s candidacy has inspired and helped build is one that has been needed for a long time. Washington is badly broken. Hardworking Mainers need a candidate that we can trust to lead the movement, to defeat Susan Collins, and tilt power away from those who have amassed unbelievable wealth at the expense of the rest of us. In order to carry the movement forward, to give power back to the people, and to defeat Susan Collins in November, I am calling upon Graham to drop out.”In addition, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) have both pulled their endorsements of Platner.”I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement,” Khanna said in a social media post.”The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious,” Gallego said in a social media post. “I am rescinding my endorsement.” In a statement to Maine’s Total Coverage, Platner said: “These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.”Platner then reiterated those sentiments in a video he shared on his social media pages.”I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me,” Platner said in the video. “Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false. … Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement that I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”The Politico report was published after Platner had postponed several campaign events that were scheduled for this week. The WMTW Sales Department confirmed the Platner campaign has put a pause on paying for political ads on Channel 8 after Monday.Platner has until Monday, July 13, to drop out of the Senate race. If Platner does drop out, the Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to choose a replacement to run against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent.Collins, who is seeking her sixth term in the Senate, told Maine’s Total Coverage that the allegations against Platner are appalling, but that it is not up to her to choose the Democratic nominee.”We’ve known from the beginning that Graham Platner is a scandalous scumbag. The latest news about him sexually assaulting a woman in 2021 is just more proof that he was never fit to represent Maine. He has no integrity and has no respect for women, or anyone for that matter,” Maine Republican Party chairman Jim Deyermond said in a statement. “It’s disgusting and shameful that Maine Democrats continue to support him because he’s clearly out-of-control.”Platner’s campaign shared the following statement with Maine’s Total Coverage:”These allegations are very serious and Graham vigorously denies them. They are also coached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives. For a year, opponents of this campaign have thrown everything they can at Graham — calling him a Nazi, a war criminal, and a communist. None of it has been true and this is no different. It is not a coincidence that this story comes a week before the ballot deadline, just as the previous false allegations came a week before the primary. Graham began this campaign to fight for a Maine where everyone is treated with dignity and where Mainers are put first, and no amount of desperate smears will stop this movement from seeing that vision through.”Racicot was also featured in a New York Times report published on June 4, five days before Maine’s primary election. In the New York Times report, Racicot described Platner’s behavior as “reckless” and “unsettling,” but she did not make the sexual assault allegation. Racicot told Politico she did not reveal the sexual assault claim to the Times because she did not want to be known as a rape victim. According to Politico, she later felt compelled to go public about her experience because she felt her part of the Times report was “just a read-over” and that the story was dominated by another one of Platner’s exes, Lindsey Fifield, and accusations that Fifield’s claims were politically motivated.Five days before The New York Times published the report featuring negative accounts from several women who dated Platner, the Wall Street Journal and the Times published reports about allegations that Platner sent sexually explicit text messages to multiple women while he was married to Amy Gertner, who is still his wife.Platner, an oyster farmer, has also been criticized over comments he made on the social media platform Reddit, which have since been deleted, that criticized rape victims, police officers, rural Americans and a Purple Heart recipient.In addition, Platner has since covered up a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol.Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 during his third deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps.”We went ashore in Split, Croatia, myself and a few of the other machine gun squad leaders, and we got very inebriated and we just did what Marines on liberty do and we decided to go get a tattoo,” Platner said. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing, and we got those tattoos and then we all moved on with our lives.”Platner said his team learned through opposition research that someone might use that tattoo to link him to Nazis because the skull-and-crossbones design resembled “Totenkopf,” a symbol that the Anti-Defamation League said was adopted by the SS, a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.”At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say: ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’ It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo,” Platner said on a political podcast. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”While Platner claims he had no knowledge that his skull-and-crossbones tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol before the fall of 2025, Fifield claimed in the New York Times report that he knew the tattoo was a Nazi symbol and joked about it, calling it “my Totenkopf.”

PORTLAND, Maine —

A woman who dated Graham Platner, the Maine Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, told Politico and CNN that he sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago.

Politico reported Monday that Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, detailed the sexual assault allegations in three exclusive interviews that were conducted over the past two weeks.

According to Politico, Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years before he entered her home uninvited one night in late 2021. Racicot claimed Platner was deeply intoxicated and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Racicot told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'”

According to Racicot, Platner did not remember what happened that night when she asked him about it the morning after. She said she told him to leave and never contact her again. Racicot said she waited several weeks to ensure she was not pregnant, and then sent Platner a private message on Instagram saying the encounter was not consensual and that she did not want to hear from him ever again.

Racicot also spoke about the sexual assault allegations with CNN’s chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper during Monday evening’s episode of “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

“This is a person I have known and have trusted and have had very consensual relationships with, like, all along — until it wasn’t,” Racicot told Tapper. “So that was a really hard thing to understand, that this was a person I trusted.”

Politico also said they spoke with another man Racicot dated and had confided in years after the alleged incident. The publication also said it reviewed a number of documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.

In the wake of the Politico report, leaders in the Maine Democratic Party have called upon Platner to drop out of the race.

“Maine Democratic Party leadership takes seriously our responsibility to hold every candidate who seeks to represent our state to the highest standard. Over the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner. Today’s statements take those allegations even further,” Maine Democratic Party chair Charlie Dingman, vice chair Imke Schessler and executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson said in a joint statement. “Maine Democratic Party leadership is calling on Graham Platner to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. The Maine Democratic Party leadership stands with women and survivors, and that principle does not bend based on party affiliation. We respect the women who made the hard decision to come forward. Speaking up is often costly. We are entrusted with deciding who represents our values and who carries our banner. That responsibility requires judgment, leadership, and a willingness to act when circumstances demand it. This Senate race comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle against a government, supported by Senator Collins, that serves the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of ordinary Maine people. It is essential that we refocus this campaign on that struggle.”

Video below: Maine political analysts react to fallout from sexual assault allegation brought against Graham Platner

“Survivors deserve to be believed, supported, and protected. Over the last month, multiple women have come forward with serious allegations against Graham Platner. I stand with each of them and with any survivor who has endured an experience like this. Sexual violence has absolutely no place in our society, and it cannot be tolerated from those seeking our highest positions of power,” Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry said in a statement. “To that end, I am calling on Mr. Platner to withdraw his candidacy immediately. Maine deserves a nominee for U.S. Senate with the dignity, judgment, and personal character this seat demands.”

“Today’s revelations, on top of months of allegations and controversies, make it clear that Graham’s campaign cannot be successful,” Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said in a statement. “The movement that Graham’s candidacy has inspired and helped build is one that has been needed for a long time. Washington is badly broken. Hardworking Mainers need a candidate that we can trust to lead the movement, to defeat Susan Collins, and tilt power away from those who have amassed unbelievable wealth at the expense of the rest of us. In order to carry the movement forward, to give power back to the people, and to defeat Susan Collins in November, I am calling upon Graham to drop out.”

In addition, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) have both pulled their endorsements of Platner.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement,” Khanna said in a social media post.

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I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) July 6, 2026

“The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious,” Gallego said in a social media post. “I am rescinding my endorsement.”

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The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious.

I am rescinding my endorsement.

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) July 6, 2026

In a statement to Maine’s Total Coverage, Platner said: “These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.”

Platner then reiterated those sentiments in a video he shared on his social media pages.

“I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me,” Platner said in the video. “Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false. … Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement that I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”

The Politico report was published after Platner had postponed several campaign events that were scheduled for this week. The WMTW Sales Department confirmed the Platner campaign has put a pause on paying for political ads on Channel 8 after Monday.

Platner has until Monday, July 13, to drop out of the Senate race. If Platner does drop out, the Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to choose a replacement to run against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent.

Collins, who is seeking her sixth term in the Senate, told Maine’s Total Coverage that the allegations against Platner are appalling, but that it is not up to her to choose the Democratic nominee.

“We’ve known from the beginning that Graham Platner is a scandalous scumbag. The latest news about him sexually assaulting a woman in 2021 is just more proof that he was never fit to represent Maine. He has no integrity and has no respect for women, or anyone for that matter,” Maine Republican Party chairman Jim Deyermond said in a statement. “It’s disgusting and shameful that Maine Democrats continue to support him because he’s clearly out-of-control.”

Platner’s campaign shared the following statement with Maine’s Total Coverage:

“These allegations are very serious and Graham vigorously denies them. They are also coached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives. For a year, opponents of this campaign have thrown everything they can at Graham — calling him a Nazi, a war criminal, and a communist. None of it has been true and this is no different. It is not a coincidence that this story comes a week before the ballot deadline, just as the previous false allegations came a week before the primary. Graham began this campaign to fight for a Maine where everyone is treated with dignity and where Mainers are put first, and no amount of desperate smears will stop this movement from seeing that vision through.”

Racicot was also featured in a New York Times report published on June 4, five days before Maine’s primary election. In the New York Times report, Racicot described Platner’s behavior as “reckless” and “unsettling,” but she did not make the sexual assault allegation. Racicot told Politico she did not reveal the sexual assault claim to the Times because she did not want to be known as a rape victim. According to Politico, she later felt compelled to go public about her experience because she felt her part of the Times report was “just a read-over” and that the story was dominated by another one of Platner’s exes, Lindsey Fifield, and accusations that Fifield’s claims were politically motivated.

Five days before The New York Times published the report featuring negative accounts from several women who dated Platner, the Wall Street Journal and the Times published reports about allegations that Platner sent sexually explicit text messages to multiple women while he was married to Amy Gertner, who is still his wife.

Platner, an oyster farmer, has also been criticized over comments he made on the social media platform Reddit, which have since been deleted, that criticized rape victims, police officers, rural Americans and a Purple Heart recipient.

In addition, Platner has since covered up a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol.

Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 during his third deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps.

“We went ashore in Split, Croatia, myself and a few of the other machine gun squad leaders, and we got very inebriated and we just did what Marines on liberty do and we decided to go get a tattoo,” Platner said. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing, and we got those tattoos and then we all moved on with our lives.”

Platner said his team learned through opposition research that someone might use that tattoo to link him to Nazis because the skull-and-crossbones design resembled “Totenkopf,” a symbol that the Anti-Defamation League said was adopted by the SS, a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

“At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say: ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’ It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo,” Platner said on a political podcast. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”

While Platner claims he had no knowledge that his skull-and-crossbones tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol before the fall of 2025, Fifield claimed in the New York Times report that he knew the tattoo was a Nazi symbol and joked about it, calling it “my Totenkopf.”