{"id":3860,"date":"2026-07-06T20:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T20:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3860"},"modified":"2026-07-06T20:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T20:41:35","slug":"dem-graham-platner-cancels-multiple-maine-senate-campaign-events-reflects-on-path-forward-after-bombshell-sex-assault-accusation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3860","title":{"rendered":"Dem Graham Platner cancels multiple Maine Senate campaign events, reflects on ‘path forward’ after\u00a0bombshell sex assault accusation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has cleared his campaign schedule and is considering next steps after bombshell allegations of sexual assault from ex-girlfriend were published.<\/p>\n

Read more Graham Platner\u2019s ex Jenny Racicot accuses him of rape, says Maine Senate hopeful was \u2018very drunk and wouldn\u2019t take no for an answer\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The former girlfriend, Jenny Racicot, told Politico that Platner drunkenly forced her to have sex with him in 2021 \u2014 allegations which the candidate immediately denied as \u201ctroubling, serious and false.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Platner campaign, hours before the article was posted, had indefinitely postponed town halls in Augusta on Sunday and in Gorham on Monday, as well as an event in Sanford whose listing was taken down.<\/p>\n

Gorham Democrats claimed Monday morning that the Senate candidate was \u201cnot feeling well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, The New York Times published a story about six\u00a0ex-girlfriends of Platner, three of whom\u00a0alleged he \u201chated\u00a0women\u201d \u2014 with one alleging\u00a0he twisted her arm before locking her in her room during an argument, among other acts of physical abuse or intimidation.<\/p>\n

Racicot was interviewed for the Times\u2019 piece and recounted Platner\u2019s inebriated arrival at her home in 2021, without any accusations of rape.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old told Politico she came forward because her side of the story had been skipped over due to the excessive focus on another ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, whose allegation of physical abuse was downplayed due to her ties to the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons I didn\u2019t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,\u201d she also said.<\/p>\n

Now, Racicot added, she is hoping voters \u201chave a whole scope of who he is as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late 2021, Platner showed up at her Maine home uninvited and let himself into her unlocked house. He was\u201dalmost blackout drunk,\u201d and began \u201cgrabbing\u201d Racicot\u2019s \u201cpelvis and being really forceful,\u201d\u00a0and noticed a \u201clook on his face\u201d before \u201crealizing \u2026 I am in a situation where there\u2019s no consent here,\u201d she recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been telling him these words, like: \u2018No, don\u2019t,\u2019\u201d she added to the outlet, noting that he was \u201cvery drunk and wouldn\u2019t take no for an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, \u2018This is no longer my choice,\u2019\u201d she also said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue,\u201d Platner responded in a statement.<\/p>\n

In a subsequent video statement, he added: \u201cRegardless 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 I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racicot and Platner dated on and off for two years between 2019 and 2021 after meeting on the dating app Bumble. She cut off contact with Platner and allegedly sent him an Instagram message claiming the 2021 incident was not consensual, but has since deleted her account and said she couldn\u2019t recover the message, per Politico.<\/p>\n

Read more Belgium sends warning to US after Folarin Balogun cleared to play at World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

Platner visited DC last month before the The Pine Tree State\u2019s primary election and stressed in a private meeting with Democratic senators that no\u00a0credible allegations of sexual assault\u00a0would be coming to light.<\/p>\n

The Senate hopeful has also been dogged by allegations of\u00a0sexting six other women while married, which he and his campaign acknowledged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Until recently, Platner also maintained an active account on the private messaging app Kik, which is known as a hotbed for hookups, and displayed a picture on the profile of himself shirtless in a white towel.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s on top of stories last year about Platner\u00a0making offensive comments on Reddit\u00a0and getting a\u00a0tattoo of a notorious Nazi SS symbol\u00a0that he later replaced.<\/p>\n

Two of his ex-girlfriends \u2014 one of whom worked for a Republican think tank and the other of whom identifies as a \u201cleftist\u201d \u2014 have said Platner lied about not knowing the origins of the skull-and-bones \u201cTotenkopf\u201d when first asked about the symbol on his chest last year.<\/p>\n

Platner also had the tattoo replaced with the image of a Celtic knot in the shape of a dog.<\/p>\n

A recent Times\/Portland Press Herald\/Siena College survey showed Platner leading Collins 49% to 47%, though 3% said they didn\u2019t know whom they would support or declined to answer.<\/p>\n

But just 44% said Platner had \u201cgood character,\u201d whereas 66% of those surveyed shared that sentiment about Collins. Similarly, 45% said the Democrat \u201chas the right kind of moral values,\u201d compared with 61% who said that about Collins.<\/p>\n

Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democratic leaders have still backed him in the challenge against Collins \u2014 one of three key races where the GOP is working to maintain its Senate majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine,\u201d Sanders said in an interview with CBS News\u2019 Robert Costa in June. \u201cThere are people in the United States Senate who are not saints, I can tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The Vermont independent endorsed the 41-year-old Senate candidate due to his support of policies in favor of single-payer health care and hiking taxes for billionaires<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,\u201d Schumer also told reporters in early June,\u00a0affirming his endorsement of Platner\u00a0\u2014 despite having backed term-limited Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills beforehand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d the Platner campaign said in a statement to Politico.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Florida influencer DreamDoll Brii dead at 21 after being shot in lime green Lamborghini<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has cleared his campaign schedule and is considering next steps after bombshell allegations of sexual assault from ex-girlfriend were published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nDem Graham Platner cancels multiple Maine Senate campaign events, reflects on 'path forward' after\u00a0bombshell sex assault accusation\u00a0 - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3860\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dem Graham Platner cancels multiple Maine Senate campaign events, reflects on 'path forward' after\u00a0bombshell sex assault accusation\u00a0 - 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