Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine is facing its latest crisis after a woman he once dated accused him of sexual assault.
As reported on Tuesday’s AM Update, 41-year-old Maine resident Jenny Racicot told Politico Platner forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago, despite what she described as “repeated objections.”
The Sexual Assault Allegation
Over three interviews in the last two weeks, Racicot detailed to Politico that she met Platner on a dating app in 2019 and dated him on and off for more than two years. She alleged that on one night in late 2021, after she had told him not to come over, Platner entered her unlocked rural Maine home uninvited and deeply intoxicated and walked upstairs to where she was sitting on a couch.
Racicot recalled smelling alcohol on his breath and believed he was “almost blackout drunk.” She told Politico he got on top of her and kept grabbing her, even as she told him to stop. “I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me, I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice,’” she recounted.
She said she tried to get away from Platner only to have him follow her into the bedroom, where she says he had sex with her against her will. “I had been telling him these words, like: ‘No, don’t,’ And, the look on his face and realizing what was happening, I just realized that, like, I am in a situation where there’s no consent here,” she alleged.
Politico reported it reviewed emails between Racicot and her therapist referencing the alleged assault, along with 2023 Facebook messages in which she warned another woman against getting involved with Platner.
Racicot previously went public with a watered-down version of her concerns about Platner, appearing in a New York Times report last month that featured several women who described troubling experiences with the candidate. In that article, she described Platner’s behavior as “reckless” and “unsettling,” but she did not publicly accuse him of sexual assault.
Racicot told Politico she later decided to disclose the full allegation after watching the reaction to that Times story focus heavily on another woman, Lyndsey Fifield, who accused Platner of mistreating her and then faced attacks over her ties to Republican politics.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday night, Racicot explained her decision to speak out in more detail:
RACICOT: One of the biggest ones is that I think that there are a lot of men in this world relying on the silence of women to be where they are, and I don’t want to contribute to that. I also want to just get my life back.
TAPPER: There are going to be people, maybe even his campaign, certainly his supporters, who say this is politically motivated. What would you say to that?
RACICOT: I couldn’t disagree more. That was actually one of the reasons that I didn’t come out.
TAPPER: Because you agree with his politics?
RACICOT: I do. I really agree with his politics. I think we need somebody with those political stances and who are willing to do the work. And you know, I see his political videos, they get me fired up as well… And I felt like me coming forward would essentially potentially take that away, and I felt really uncomfortable with the responsibility of the weight of my story, and, and what that might do.
Platner Responds
In the wake of the Politico report, the Platner campaign postponed a string of events and said he is taking time to reflect on his path forward. He had a similar message in a video posted to social media Monday afternoon. Watch:
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” he said, in part. “Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
The new allegation follows weeks of damaging stories surrounding Platner’s campaign including a separate sexting scandal in which his own wife reportedly alerted his campaign to explicit messages he had sent to other women early in their marriage.
The campaign was also forced to confront a Nazi-linked tattoo on Platner’s chest, which he has since covered, claiming he did not understand its meaning when he got it and some inflammatory Reddit posts (e.g. blasting fellow veterans and admitting to masturbating in a port-a-potty). In January, Platner told CNN there was nothing else out there that could damage his campaign, but that hasn’t proven to be true.
Despite the controversy, Platner handily won the Democrat nomination last month. Under Maine law, the party can replace him on the November ballot only if he withdraws by July 13. That gives Dems just one week to potentially find a new candidate in one of the party’s most important Senate pickup opportunities.
Calls to Drop Out
The pressure campaign escalated quickly with the Maine Democrat Party leadership publicly calling on Platner to withdraw after the story broke. Other high profile Democrats also began to jump ship. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA), one of Platner’s most prominent progressive supporters, withdrew his endorsement due to what he called the “very serious and credible” allegations.
In a joint statement, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pleaded with Platner to ” immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins.”
Additionally, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) rescinded their endorsements, and, in perhaps the biggest blow, Platner lost the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”
If Platner remains in the race, he is set to face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. Before the latest allegation surfaced, the RealClearPolitics polling average showed Platner with a slight lead of 47.5 percent to Collins’ 46.8 percent.
Media Malpractice
Democrat politicians and their supporters in the media now find themselves having to contend with the damning fact that they either missed or chose to ignore the ever-growing mountain of scandal and controversy surrounding Platner.
On Tuesday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn was joined by RealClearPolitics founder Tom Bevan and Next Up host Mark Halperin to how the media tried to buried the truth until it could no longer be ignored. Watch:
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Bevan and Halperin by tuning in to episode 1,354 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.