A day after an allegation that he sexually assaulted a Maine woman in 2021, Graham Platner supporters were at odds about whether the candidate should withdraw from the race for U.S. Senate.
Although Platner’s Ellsworth headquarters was closed throughout Tuesday morning — a sign indicating the site would be open by 9 a.m. was still hanging at 3 p.m. — several dedicated supporters and curious onlookers still lingered around the downtown storefront.
Campaign volunteer and Bar Harbor resident Annlinn Kruger, 77, said she believes the latest allegation against Platner is credible and leaves him with “no opportunity to prove his innocence.”
“My feeling is that it’s not a question of veracity — that could be decided in court — but politics is about the court of public opinion,” Kruger said. “I feel that for the Democratic Party, which has always opposed his outsider status and progressive platform, this was just the opportunity they were looking for and there’s no coming back from it.”
Kruger’s comments reflect widespread soul-searching among Maine Democrats over the latest bombshell allegation about Platner, who since gaining frontrunner status among Democrats in the race has faced repeated accusations of past inappropriate behavior, including sexting women, sporting a Nazi tattoo, and making derogatory remarks about rape victims, women and military veterans.
Since Monday, when Politico published a story about a Mainer who accuses Platner of raping her in 2021, the Maine Democratic Party and elected state and national officials have disavowed him, but the oyster farmer from Sullivan has yet to drop out of the race against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
Kruger said she hopes Platner withdraws from the race and rallies his “unprecedented number of supporters” to elect another Democratic candidate, who she thinks should be Nirav Shah, the runner-up in the recent gubernatorial primary.
The campaign volunteer said she ranked Secretary of State Shenna Bellows first in the race for governor, but worried Bellows wouldn’t beat Collins in November’s general election. She was concerned that Bellows wouldn’t be aggressive enough to challenge the five-term sitting senator in a debate.
Kruger also was a volunteer for Bellows’s unsuccessful 2014 Senate campaign against Collins, which she lost by more than a 2-1 ratio.
Kruger rode a bus to Ellsworth on Tuesday morning to see if she could lend a hand at the campaign’s State Street headquarters. She said she believes Platner is still a good person and would make for a good senator, though is no longer a viable Democratic candidate.
Kruger said the rape allegation carried a different weight than the previous accusations the candidate has faced, including that he was emotionally abusive to a former partner, and his admission that he sent sexually explicit texts to other woman while he was married.
Sharon Rodgers, a Bangor resident, said she believes the allegation against Platner but doesn’t know if he should drop out of the race. Many candidates have controversies or have allegations come out against them and withdraw from an election, but Platner has support across the state, she said.
His politics may outweigh the allegations, but even if he’s replaced, she will vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is, she said.
“I’m not going to vote for a Republican,” Rodgers said while sitting outside near Pickering Square in downtown Bangor.
Rodgers, 74, previously voted for Collins but won’t again because of her support for Kavanaugh and the Big Beautiful Bill, she said.
When asked if she would vote for Platner in November if he’s still on the ballot, Rodgers said “that’s between me and the ballot box.”
Four other Bangor residents in West Market Square who declined to share their names questioned the allegation because it came out years after it was said to have taken place, and they believe it was politically motivated.
An Orrington resident, Deb, would not share her last name but said she “sulked” when she heard about the allegation this morning. Even though she doesn’t know if the allegation is true, she said “he better” drop out of the race.
“I don’t think there’s a way forward out of that,” she said.
Deb, who was walking to her car near Pickering Square from a protest outside the Federal Building in Bangor, said she previously donated to Platner’s campaign because she supported his ideas.
Although she previously voted for Collins, she hasn’t in the last two elections and would vote for Shah, Bellows or Troy Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate, if they took up the nomination, she said. Despite not ranking him first in the gubernatorial primary, she said she would support Shah the most of any candidate.
Samuel DiBella, a Democratic Hancock County commissioner, also visited the Platner headquarters Tuesday morning in Ellsworth to offer a word of encouragement and a monetary donation. DiBella, who wore a pin with the Palestinian flag and a tie with the keffiyeh pattern, which has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, said he was initially disheartened to hear of the latest allegation.
“But when you tune into social media, you get a little of a different perspective,” DiBella said. “You find out that there’s at least a political advantage to this kind of smear. This happened already before during another political event, which was the primaries, and it just doesn’t help to be discouraged.”
DiBella, who said his greatest concern was the Gaza genocide, didn’t think Platner would drop out of the race.
“Our problem isn’t the Republicans. It’s the Democrats that are taking corporate money, and Graham is not,” DiBella said, adding that Platner relies on small donors and has only taken a couple corporate donations.
One Canadian tourist who was passing by Ellsworth on his way to Bar Harbor captured a selfie in front of the site after peering through the storefront’s dark windows. He said he was hoping to pick up a brochure as a historical memento, but declined to give his name or further comment.
Jeff McLain, of Blue Hill, arrived at the headquarters around 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. Wearing a t-shirt featuring Donald Trump in a cowboy hat and a Maine for Trump baseball hat, McLain held up a cardboard sign saying “LOSER” in all caps with an arrow pointing to the campaign headquarters.
Platner was a “disgrace to the military and should drop out immediately,” he said.
“This guy’s gotta go!” McLain yelled to passing motorists as they honked their horns.