Maine Dems planning convention for next candidate after scandal-ridden Graham Platner drops out of Senate race

Maine Democrats voted Wednesday to hold a convention after Graham Platner dropped his bid for US Senate following accusations of rape — marking the final blow to his scandal-scarred campaign.

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Platner faced enormous pressure from within the party this week to bow out after revelations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021 surfaced. 

Maine is critical for Democrats’ efforts to retake control of the US Senate in the midterm elections, leaving a race to fill the vacuum left by Platner, a progressive — as the party hopes to defeat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.

State law requires Democrats to name a replacement candidate for Platner by July 27.  

More than 100 state committee members voted to hold a nominating convention if Platner withdrew from the race.

However, as of Wednesday night, Platner had not yet officially submitted his paperwork to withdraw from the race, according to a spokesperson for Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

In a video posted to social media, Platner, 41, whined that the process of choosing his successor needs to be “open, transparent and democratic,” and reflect the values of his base, not “people in D.C.”

“People in D.C. need to stay in D.C.,” he groused, adding that “decisions should not be made by people in places of political power.” 

Behind closed doors, party insiders say Platner’s campaign has been fighting with the establishment to help select his eventual successor.

Platner also stressed that stepping down from his campaign was not an admission of guilt.

Support for the polarizing progressive didn’t fully collapse until Monday, when Politico reported that he drunkenly forced himself on a woman when she asked him to stop in her Maine home in 2021.

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He denied the allegation as “categorically false” on social media, but said he would be “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for the campaign. 

Here’s the latest on the bombshell sexual assault allegations which forced Graham Platner to drop out of Maine Senate race :

• Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate race in light of rape accusations
• Mamdani’s silver-spoon socialist fixer races to Graham Platner’s side as they plot how to blackmail Dem party
• Graham Platner trying to put ‘thumb on the scale’ as Maine Democrats look for replacement Senate candidate, state party claims
• Graham Platner rape claims finally force top Dems to make pathetic U-turn: ‘My kind of man’

High-profile backers almost immediately pulled their support, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said on Tuesday that he recommended Platner step aside “in light of these very serious allegations.”

Platner coasted in a Democratic primary over moderate Gov. Janet Mills, 78, who dropped out of the race last April — and consolidated support from primary voters who favored the younger, more tenacious candidate. 

Platner’s background as a military veteran and oyster farmer galvanized his base more than establishment candidates who have a lighter touch and less radical policy platform.

But his campaign was beset by controversies from its infancy, including answering questions over a tattoo on his chest that appears to be a totenkopf, a Nazi symbol.

Platner denied being a Nazi, adding that “skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.” 

Although a former girlfriend said that he referred to the tattoo as “my totenkopf.”

Ex-girlfriends also recounted volatile, emotionally wrenching relationships, including physical intimidation that sent his campaign reeling in recent months.

Outside of this week’s final straw, the campaign was already dealing with earlier revelations of infidelity, including an admission that his wife flagged sexually explicit texts he sent to other women in 2025, and resurfaced Reddit posts where Platner made crude remarks about women, sexual assault victims and various marginalized groups.

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With Post wires