Politics
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Graham Platner is reaching out to former allies to insist he’s innocent of the rape allegation that ended his U.S. Senate campaign, even as he prepares for a public appearance that has state Democrats bracing for a comeback attempt.
The former candidate texted Stacy Leafsong, a Belmont farm owner and progressive organizer who once hosted him at a fundraiser, on Monday to deny the allegations that forced him from the race last month.
“I just wanted to reach out, there isn’t an ounce of truth to the accusation that was leveled against me,” Platner wrote, according to a screenshot Leafsong shared with the Bangor Daily News. “Any closer look is going to make that incredibly obvious, hence why despite accusing me of a serious crime within the statute of limitations, there hasn’t been any kind of charge filed or investigation.”
The message lands two months before the midterm election and weeks ahead of a Labor Day rally in Hancock County where activist groups had planned to feature Platner before backing off amid the backlash. Taken together, the outreach and the rally plans have fed suspicion among former supporters and Democrats that Platner is working to keep a public profile alive.
Leafsong, who withdrew her support from Platner after reports surfaced of his offensive Reddit posts, said she didn’t respond to the text and was unsettled by it.
“This is pretty much his modus operandi,” she said. “He thinks he can s—talk his way through anything.”
Platner told The New Yorker last month he’d resisted dropping out after an ex-girlfriend claimed he raped her in 2021, saying “we had polling where I was still quite competitive.” His 11-minute withdrawal video, in which he denied the allegations and framed his exit as a fight against “the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power,” struck several former supporters as more of a pause than an ending.
Organizers with the Hancock County Democratic Committee promoted the Labor Day rally on social media before pulling the posts and stripping Platner’s name from their calendar listing. Committee chair Marcia Myers, who did not respond to a request for comment from BDN, told one concerned Mainer by email that the party group wasn’t hosting or planning the event, but felt “an obligation to notify people when major rallies are planned.”
The rally’s organizers, Acadia Action and Hancock County Activists, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Platner did not respond to voicemails this week.
Not everyone close to his old campaign reads a comeback into the moves. A source familiar with Platner’s volunteer base said he had spoken at similar rallies in past years and downplayed talk of a return to politics, noting that many supporters in his home region of Hancock County have rejected the allegations against him outright.
“I’ve not heard any rumblings from anyone credible that he’s trying to make a comeback, other than wanting to be involved in community organizing somewhere,” the source said,
But even sympathetic former supporters see the timing as a problem. A former campaign volunteer, granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Platner’s base is split over the rally.
“There’s a small number of people who are excited for him to get back, but the overwhelming majority are like, ‘What the f—-?'” the volunteer said. “Many people believe he should come back to public life, but not before November, and has to do so in a way that’s respectful of the people in the movement who are survivors.”
The stakes extend far beyond Platner. Republicans have worked to tie his replacement on the ballot, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, to the scandal, and Jackson has said he neither wants nor would accept Platner’s endorsement. Jackson, a former Allagash logger, has opened a slim early lead over Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in polling, a margin state Democrats don’t want risked by a Platner reappearance.
Leafsong, who backs Jackson, said the rally planning itself reflected poor judgment by organizers, regardless of Platner’s intentions.
“It’s delusional,” she said. “I don’t know what all these people are doing.”