{"id":751597,"date":"2026-07-09T01:26:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T01:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751597\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T01:26:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T01:26:18","slug":"graham-platner-drops-out-of-senate-race-allowing-maine-democrats-to-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751597\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Platner drops out of Senate race, allowing Maine Democrats to replace him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graham Platner announced Wednesday he\u2019s ending his Senate campaign, capping a chaotic few days of uncertainty and Democratic infighting<\/a> and leaving the party without a candidate<\/a> in the vitally important Maine race this fall.<\/p>\n

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The announcement by the populist progressive came after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault in 2021<\/a>, causing his support to hemorrhage even among top Democratic allies, who rescinded their endorsements<\/a> and called on him to drop out.<\/p>\n

In a video message on X<\/a>, Platner denied the allegation as \u201cfalse\u201d but said it has \u201cplaced an immense amount of weight\u201d on him, as he has until only Monday to decide whether to continue his candidacy. He said that if he continued, he\u2019d lose his ability to raise money, access voter data or run a campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat comes next needs to come from the people, needs to come from the people of Maine,\u201d Platner said. \u201cIt needs to be open, transparent and democratic. It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that for the movement to continue, it can\u2019t be me. And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,\u201d Platner continued. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing it because of the allegations; we\u2019re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GrahamGraham Platner, a Maine Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate, in York, Maine, on April 17, 2026.Sofia Aldinio for NBC News<\/p>\n

The Maine Democratic Party now has the option to replace Platner on the ballot by a July 27 deadline set by state law<\/a>. It is unclear how it will go about selecting a candidate in that compressed time frame. Many are already jockeying<\/a> to be the candidate<\/a> to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth six-year term.<\/p>\n

Earlier Wednesday evening, the state party said it had decided<\/a> to hold a nominating convention to pick a replacement candidate and plans to \u201cannounce the full timeline,\u201d as well as details and requirements for contenders. It promised transparency.<\/p>\n

Platner\u2019s exit came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Democratic campaign arm warned in no uncertain terms that the national party \u201cwill not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within hours of Politico\u2019s first reporting the allegation<\/a> Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a>, D-Mass., who visited Maine to campaign for Platner, said there \u201ccan be no tolerance for sexual assault.\u201d Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called the allegation \u201cserious and credible\u201d and said he deems sexual assault and violence against women \u201ca red line.\u201d Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said the woman\u2019s accusation was \u201ctroubling and deeply serious.\u201d And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., whom Platner has cited as a model for his politics, also said he advised him to step aside.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a difficult situation for Maine Democrats, as party operatives don\u2019t have enough time for a full primary campaign. But many see it as a lifeline to find a less flawed nominee with a fighting chance of defeating Collins, who was first elected in 1996 and last won re-election in 2020. She initially vowed to serve no more than two terms but reneged on that promise.<\/p>\n

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to capture control of the Senate this fall. Apart from Maine and North Carolina, all their opportunities come in states Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024 \u2014 Ohio, Iowa, Alaska and Texas. Maine is the only blue-leaning state with a GOP senator.<\/p>\n

Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer, handily won the primary<\/a> on June 9 after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, the Democratic establishment\u2019s preferred candidate, failed to gain traction and quit the contest<\/a> in late April.<\/p>\n

With his plainspoken and antiestablishment rhetoric, Platner tapped into a rising populism within the Democratic base. Along the way, he gained endorsements from prominent progressives across the country, like Warren, Khanna and Sanders, who had previously stuck with him<\/a> despite multiple damaging revelations earlier in the campaign.<\/p>\n

The Politico story Monday<\/a> featured a 41-year-old woman named Jenny Racicot alleging that in 2021, when they dated, Platner appeared at her home uninvited and intoxicated and forced himself on her even as she told him to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically untrue,\u201d Platner said, firmly denying the allegation.<\/p>\n

Still, he hinted Monday, for the first time, that he was reconsidering whether to stay in the race. \u201cMindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward\u201d for Maine, his movement and \u201cthe goal of defeating Susan Collins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Responding to earlier, damaging revelations about his past, Platner\u2019s allies had said they accepted his story that he made mistakes in the aftermath of having served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and was now a changed man.<\/p>\n

There was the skull-and-crossbones chest tattoo, which Platner said he had covered<\/a> after he learned it carried a Nazi association. There were the since-deleted Reddit posts <\/a>that included an array of controversial comments. There were the ex-girlfriends<\/a> who alleged toxic behavior. There was the Kik account<\/a> where he reportedly sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women early in his marriage.<\/p>\n

A number of his erstwhile defenders were angry and felt misled by the sexual assault allegations Monday, the breaking point for his allies. Platner had promised Democrats there wouldn\u2019t be stories of that nature coming out, two people with knowledge of the assurances told NBC News.<\/p>\n

In his video message, Platner encouraged his supporters to \u201ckeep fighting\u201d for the values and policies of his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to win some day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham Platner announced Wednesday he\u2019s ending his Senate campaign, capping a chaotic few days of uncertainty and Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-751597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}