Bernie Sanders urges Maine Senate candidate to quit race after sexual assault allegation

Bernie Sanders has urged Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop his campaign after a sexual assault allegation, as Democrats scramble to salvage a crucial seat in the race for control of Congress.

“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement. “In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”

“Bernie Sanders urged Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to quit after a sexual assault allegation.”

The call came after POLITICO reported on Monday that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, says he sexually assaulted her five years ago. Platner denied the allegations but posted a social media video saying he was taking time “to reflect on the best path forward.” He has remained silent since.

Sanders, Platner’s biggest national ally, joins a growing list of Democrats abandoning the nominee. Senate Democratic leaders and their allied super PAC have said they won’t invest in Maine, a critical battleground state that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, if Platner remains on the ballot.

The scandal blows up the map for Democrats, who need to net four seats to take the Senate from Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority. Maine was long seen as one of their best opportunities: it is the only state Harris won in 2024 that is currently represented by a Republican senator. Losing Maine would force the party to hold seats in Georgia and Michigan — both won by Donald Trump in 2024 — while flipping Republican-held seats in states like North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Iowa and Texas. Trump carried North Carolina by just three points but won the others by double digits, underscoring Democrats’ uphill battle.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, running for her sixth term, is known as an electoral juggernaut. She won reelection in 2020 despite Joe Biden winning Maine by nine points, and is the only Republican to have won statewide since 2014. But Democrats believe she is vulnerable this year due to a nationalised political environment and low approval ratings for the Trump administration.

Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he drops out by July 13, with the Maine Democratic Party having until July 27 to select a new nominee. Potential candidates are already positioning themselves. Former state Senate President Troy Jackson filed federal paperwork on Tuesday to form an exploratory committee, allowing him to start fundraising. Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, called for an open and transparent process, saying on X: “Anyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple public town halls across every corner of the state.” He notably emphasised he is “not an establishment politician” or “an insider.”

Whether Platner will step aside remains unclear, but the clock is ticking toward the July 13 deadline.