A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.
Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.
Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.
Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.
Still, the allegation sparked a flight away from a candidate who has long been controversial. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who’d stood by Platner even as the insurgent candidate was hit with prior allegations, said Monday’s was enough. “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”
Edit: holy shit, these comments are insane.
Regardless of what you believe with this, Platner likely cannot win anymore. He has a week to do the right thing and drop out before he’s fully locked in. If he actually gives any sort of a shit (and doesn’t just want power, like rapists seeking office tend to), he needs to drop out yesterday.
This is the nail in the coffin for his campaign. It’s not time to defend him no matter what, because there’s still a week where a new candidate can be put into place. Instead of being mad at people not wanting to vote for him, you should start vocally supporting another candidate.
Come on in. The shit is steaming and our eyes are burning and we got every kind of emotional take in the book.
once more into the breach
“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Just hold a lottery for the senate / house seat. No politics, no filtering.
Called this. Haha down voters.
That’s what did it? Not the Nazi shit?
If Platner wants to defend himself publicly on this, and/or keep running, and/or sue the accuser for libel, he’s free to do any or all of that. As anyone who’s been around for a few cycles know, its pretty common for candidates and other public figures, when they first reach a certain terminal level of attention or fame, to get a wide range of accusations on business, personal matters, drug use, and past sexual behavior. Just because these appear to be conveniently timed politically, is not evidence for or against their veracity. If there is no actual juice to these accusations, then dealing with people who lob bombs like that into the middle of campaigns is a well-worn playbook that thousands of politicians have run and won with, and he’ll be fine. If.
Another aspect as to why this is different is because it’s so well substantiated. It’s like… Textbook. There’s so little to argue with.
The previous claims against him had none of that, and came from his direct opposition. That is suspicious. These claims are not.
That is suspicious. These claims are not.
You don’t find the timing suspicious? JFC, you guys are as delusional as MAGA.
If someone is raped, are they no longer allowed to tell anyone should that person be elected to a political position?
She warned multiple other women and has proof way before he even started his campaign
What proof. Why did she wait 5 years.
Very much with the “if.” I’d rather not add more logs to the everlasting bonfire of “women ignored for political expediency.” If it is fake, then handle it like a normal person instead of self-destructing.
There are no criminal charges because no prosecutor would waste time and money on allegations with no evidence, and delayed for 5 years.
Yet another purity test failed, why can’t we tolerate sex pest Nazis?! Is nothing good enough for you leftists?
First you don’t want genocide and war crimes, now you don’t support rapists! We all know she is a filthy liar! No people in positions of power would do such a thing. Except for all the ones in office who do. But those guys don’t count! They’re Republicans!
If being a rapist gets you cancelled by the left, then the left would rather lose than let a rapist in office!
Clearly she’s lying about all of it. Never believe a single woman when they confess they were raped by someone I like. That’s what MSNBC told me when Biden was being questioned for his actions and defended Clarance Thomas to enter the Supreme Court, known sex pest.
This is just filthy slander, just vote Blue no matter who he rapes!
Murdering innocents overseas is totally fine but God forbid he rape a white woman!!
Americans are something else, man.
Just reading the comments on this you can see a lot of Lemmy users have a massive mysogyny problem.
They wanted their special white boy working class savior so goddamn bad they’re willing to look theother way on:
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Nepotism (he sells oysters to his mommy)
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Nazism
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Blackwater war tourism
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Rape
Just no principles or character at all.
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There are a lot of people in here who do not seem to know a story of someone that was sexually assaulted. I would hope to those of you that think this is bullshit to ask a woman in your life if they know someone that has been assaulted, and what they did. Because 99% of women will know someone or be someone like the woman this is referring to.
Her story is pretty believable and the actions taken are similar to many other people who have been assaulted: Cut ties and warn others. And that is exactly what she did. She knew Platner before this occurred and were even having a sexual relationship (this was from a series of interviews with Graham’s past relationships.) I think the most damning part of this is that she doesn’t appear to have a political agenda. She seems to agree with his messages.
As much as the average person immediately goes to the defense of the person they like more, this seems very credible. it is entirely likely that Planter may not have even been conscious of his actions, having been far too drunk. That isn’t really an excuse, though, and I do think his campaign should be finding a replacement ASAP. They can still run a progressive candidate, but holy fuck, they need to move fast.
Sexual assault should be treated as the disqualifying event that it is. I understand questioning the sincerity of the victim, but there are too many things that make me believe her, and if it is true, that should absolutely disqualify him from office.
The Democratic establishment would rather lose to Susan Collins than win with an outsider candidate. The fact that Bill Clinton is accepted in polite society and Platner has to be banished demonstrates that sexual scandals are a cudgel to be wielded selectively.
Maybe if the outsider wasn’t a literal rapist Nazi-murderer, you’d have a better chance?
Nobody really knew Clinton was on the Epstein list when he was in office so the worst thing he did in people’s eyes was get a consensual blow job.
You can’t seriously be saying that is as bad as sexual assault (if in fact that’s what happened here).
As for now, most people want Clinton to answer for what he may have done with Epstein.
Monica Lewinsky was 22 when the scandal broke. It was painted as consensual despite the massive age and authority difference. It was fraternization.
This is why you disqualify the guy with the nazi tattoo immediately…
Anyone with judgements that bad us going to have more skeletons in the closet
This is what always gets me. It’s not like there aren’t hundreds if not thousands of people who want the job.
I felt this way during the Kavenaugh hearings for the SC. If someone has anything big that would disqualify them if true, even if it isn’t, why push that candidate?
It’s not a court of law. We’re not throwing them in jail. It doesn’t need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. They are just not getting a job they wanted.
I’ve seen people not get a job they wanted because they forgot a word during an interview. Why the hell can someone be credibly accused of rape and everyone’s like, “well yeah, but we still want them to get this job.” Just interview other candidates! There’s not a lack of people who would want to be a Senator or SC Justice or whatever. What the hell?
Why the hell can someone be credibly accused of rape and everyone’s like, “well yeah, but we still want them to get this job.”
This is built right into our government. We, the people, have said we don’t care about rape and rape victims. And now it’s clear that it doesn’t matter which aisle they’re on, people will support their candidate no matter what.
I can excuse war crimes against brown people, but I draw the line at white people rape allegations.
Sad situation. Either way AIPAC won America lost
Maybe not. I just got done listening to Heather Cox Richardson – a Mainer herself – on the subject.
Noting that HCR has never offered a single word of endorsement for Platner (only that she thinks candidates for Senate should have some managerial experience prior to running) she now frames this as a great opportunity and lays out how Platner “was always going to be a heavy lift” because in a state that should be D+15, Platner has only ever run at +2. In addition, Collins has a dismal 17% approval rating, and there’s still time to get a new candidate. According to HCR, there are a number of qualified individuals in Maine who could step into the Democratic slot and not only be good candidates but actually win.
You may agree, you may disagree, you may be tempted to call it hopium and maybe you wouldn’t be wrong, but inasmuch as there’s still time to get a different candidate on the D side who presumably will not bring a history of sexual misconduct with them it’s not the worst thing, IMO.
That particular bit is at the 33 minute mark but overall it’s an excellent listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkDRcv1pzT4
This has been one of the biggest political races in the country for like 6 months
Why does this shit not come out when he announced running instead of the literal second he won the primary?
Fuck him and fuck victim blaming but holy fuck why? Why would you wait and go after the guy who SA you until the second he wins a primary election?
