Graham Platner, the oyster farmer and former Marine who shot from obscurity to become the Democratic nominee for a pivotal US Senate seat in Maine, has suspended his campaign after a woman accused him of sexual assault. The allegation, published by Politico, claimed an ex-girlfriend said an intoxicated Platner entered her home uninvited in 2021 and sexually assaulted her. He has denied it, calling the accusation “categorically false” and “false” in an 11-minute video posted to X on Wednesday night. “We went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won,” Platner said. “And now they are not going to let us have it, not if it’s me.”
His decision, he said, was not an admission of guilt but a response to Democrats’ threats to cut off campaign support. Within hours of the allegation becoming public on Monday, his closest allies abandoned him. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who had championed his campaign, called for his withdrawal. Three of his strongest supporters in Congress – Representatives Ro Khanna and Senators Ruben Gallego and Martin Heinrich – rescinded their endorsements. The national party stopped financing his bid.
“Graham Platner suspends US Senate campaign after sexual assault allegation, threatening Democratic hopes of flipping the Senate.”
Platner’s suspension threatens to deal a serious blow to Democratic hopes of flipping the US Senate in November’s midterm elections. Maine is widely considered a must-win state: to take the majority, Democrats must unseat five-term Republican Senator Susan Collins, hold all their own seats and gain three more. The race was already an uphill battle, but Platner – who championed progressive policies like universal health care and affordable housing and won over voters with his critique of the party establishment – had built a grassroots network of more than 15,000 supporters. He beat Governor Janet Mills to secure the nomination, propelled by endorsements from Sanders and Warren. Even earlier controversies – offensive social media posts, a chest tattoo with Nazi connotations, sexually explicit text messages to women after his marriage in 2023, and allegations from former girlfriends of threatening and “toxic” behaviour – did not deter 72% of Maine’s Democrats from voting for him in June’s primary. But the sexual assault allegation proved fatal.
Platner said he will officially file to withdraw from the race only after he is assured the process to replace him on the ballot is “transparent and democratic”. Under state law, he must drop out by 13 July for a replacement name to be listed. His exit is now laying bare division between the party’s left wing and moderates, a rift that could endanger not only this year’s Senate contest but the 2028 presidential race as well.