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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has called on Graham Platner to drop out of Maine’s U.S. Senate race.
That message from the Vermont independent came less than a day after a rape allegation upended the Sullivan oyster farmer’s insurgent campaign.
Speaking with NBC’s Sahil Kapur, Sanders said: “I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”
Our Revolution, an organization that Sanders launched after his 2016 presidential bid, on Monday night withdrew its endorsement of Platner, calling the allegations against him “credible.”
“Sexual violence is a red line. We are withdrawing our endorsement and calling on him to withdraw from this race,” the group said in a statement.
It’s not yet clear whether Sanders will withdraw his endorsement of Platner.
READ MORE PLATNER COVERAGE
Politico first reported the allegations against Platner on Monday. That has sent Democrats fleeing from Platner en masse and prompting party insiders both in Maine and nationally to call for him to end his campaign. He has lost endorsements from U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California and U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, while U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, another prominent Platner backer, called for him to exit the race.
Jenny Racicot, 41, met Platner on the dating app Bumble in 2019 and had an on-again, off-again relationship until she severed all contact with Platner after the alleged rape in 2021.
In a later interview with CNN, Racicot said that a drunken Platner showed up uninvited to her home. Racicot said Platner forced himself on her over her objections, telling CNN that he seemed too drunk to even register what she was saying.
Platner allegedly didn’t use protection, despite Racicot’s objection, during the non-consensual intercourse, which Racicot told CNN she complied with out of fear.
“Complying is not consenting,” Racicot told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
While his campaign has weathered many controversies since last fall, this latest allegation could prove fatal.
Platner’s record vote-getting win in June’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary came despite a barrage of negative press since his deleted posts on the website Reddit became public, including inflammatory statements about rural white Americans, Black people and women, and comments dismissive of women’s fears about rape.
Then it came out that Platner had a chest tattoo of a skull over crossbones resembling a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.
Platner denied knowing the meaning of the tattoo, which he got in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. He has since had it covered.
His chances for clinching the nomination seemed at risk just days ahead of the primary when the Wall Street Journal reported that he had exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women early in his marriage to Amy Gertner, who disclosed those messages to his campaign shortly after its launch, and then a New York Times story wherein his ex-girlfriends described volatile and toxic behavior, including instances of physical intimidation.
Racicot was among the women who spoke with The Times about Platner’s “unsettling” and “reckless” behavior, but she didn’t go public with the rape allegation until after the fallout over The Times’ story centered largely on one accuser’s ties to Republican organizations.
Platner’s campaign has “categorically denied” Racicot’s allegation, but the oyster farmer is nonetheless “taking time to reflect” on his campaign. He has postponed a number of upcoming events.
READ MORE PLATNER COVERAGE
The possibility of Platner bowing out four months before November’s election has set off a race among Democrats, including David Costello who was on June’s primary ballot and former gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, to find a replacement.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. While recent polls have given Platner a lead over Maine’s senior senator, the Republican has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, who has been ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Republican President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.