Politics
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U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is keeping to the sidelines as Maine Democrats rush to replace disgraced candidate Graham Platner for this November’s contentious U.S. Senate race.
“I’m staying out of Maine,” the New York Democrat said Tuesday when asked whether he’d endorse a candidate ahead of July 25’s unprecedented Democratic convention in Bangor, according to Politico.
Schumer figured as a foil during Platner’s insurgent campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. Platner was critical of longtime party insiders, including Schumer, who was among the national Democrats who encouraged term-limited Gov. Janet Mills’ doomed campaign.
Despite that, Schumer supported Platner after Mills suspended her campaign in April and stood behind him following a pair of scandals that hit the Sullivan oyster farmer’s campaign just days before the June primary.
One anonymous Democratic strategist who spoke with Politico had a blunt take on Schumer’s self-exile from Pine Tree State politics: “Anyone he wants would be toxic.”
Platner dropped out of the race on July 10 after an ex-girlfriend accused him of raping her. That sent Democrats fleeing from him en masse and prompted major backers like U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to pressure him to end his campaign.
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. Her allegations were first reported by Politico.
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.
Despite his campaign weathering many controversies, this last allegation proved 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.
Democratic county committees will meet this weekend to nominate delegates who will convene at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on July 25 to select a replacement for Platner on the November ballot. A dozen Democrats, including former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former End Citizens United vice president Jordan Wood, are vying for the nod.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. 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.
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.