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.
That’s what did it? Not the Nazi shit?
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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What a shame
Called this. Haha down voters.
To the people that excused, and went to bat for, a genocide apologist… What’s a little rape? Honestly, I’m surprised so many are dropping him for this, maybe there’s hope yet.
I’m sure there’s something to be said about the perceived victims of the genocide, and the rape, but I don’t have time to think about it.
This has a Gary Hart vibe. Senior Democrats dont want Platner around. Platner told Stewart months ago how no one from the DNC talked to him despite leading in polls.
So now he gets railroaded on 5 year old allegations that will go nowhere.
Murdering innocents overseas is totally fine but God forbid he rape a white woman!!
Americans are something else, man.
Lmao, mods went haywire on this one. Removed multiple of my replies critizing rapists for civility. Seems like the liberals are spooked that their Nazi rapist murderer candidate is getting some criticism.
“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.
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!
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.
Love how you guys can excuse murdering scores of innocent brown people overseas, and a literal Nazi tattoo on his chest, but as soon as he touches a white woman…
I thinking raping anyone is kinda bad, and that shouldn’t be contentious.
Are you MLs going to exclude all veterans from the revolution then?
Are you MLs going to consider that all veterans are a monolith and deserve to be morally contempted for the rest of their lives, with no chance of rehabilitation and change?
Your list of comrades will never stop shrinking if this mentality continues.
Note that Platner denies these rape accusations, when the victim has contemporaneous receipts and Platner’s therapy never got around to covering this. Apparently he can rehabilitate as a veteran but not as a sex pest. THAT’S the part y’all should be concerned with.
Nice to see the Democrats convict someone without evidence or a trial, was he charged with anything?
No one going to ask why these accusers stayed silent for 5 years?
The Olde DNC doesn’t want Platner, so they Gary Harted him.
Are you MLs going to exclude all veterans from the revolution then?
From leadership positions? Sure.
Are you MLs going to consider that all veterans are a monolith and deserve to be morally contempted for the rest of their lives, with no chance of rehabilitation and change?
Excluding someone from a leadership position does not mean they “deserve to be morally contempted with no chance of rehabilitation or change.” This whole mentality is completely screwed up and backwards.
If a politician fucks up or does something shitty, and they want my forgiveness, then they’re completely free to drop out of politics. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen or something. Better yet, go out and make restitution to your victims. It doesn’t matter if you’re unable to undo the damage you caused, so long as you’re trying and you’re being humble about it.
But somehow, and idk if this is an American thing or what, but people like you get things completely twisted. A politician can just say “I’m sorry,” do absolutely nothing to make restitution or demonstrate humility, and everything’s fine! It’s ridiculous, that’s not forgiveness, that’s either not caring about what they did in the first place, or bootlicking and refusing to hold powerful people accountable.
No one who’s truly sorry and ashamed about something they’ve done would try to make themselves the face of a political movement and expect people to rally around them. Why does it have to be him when there are plenty of other people out there who haven’t been a killer for hire or a rapist?
It’s completely insane.
Are you MLs going to exclude all veterans from the revolution then?
Just the ones that go back 4 times for the thrill of killing, volunteer at torture prisons, and work for mercenary groups.
Apparently he can rehabilitate as a veteran but not as a sex pest.
Rapists aren’t sex pests, they’re rapists.
There are no criminal charges against Platner because there is no evidence to support this story that mysteriously remained silent for 5 years.
Sad but predictable, in that any charasmatic candidate that rises this far with an ideological outlook that would benefit the masses over the billionaires was always going to be in the firing line.
It also shows, at least, that democrats and liberal commentators won’t blindly offer their guy impunity and have some sence of morality, even though he was basically a winning ticket and the best chance for change in decades. Had it been the republicans they would have simply powered on and weathered the heat, brashly denying anything thrown at them. They successfully ended truth and accountability under Trump, and it would seem the Dems still cling to those apparently antiquated notions.
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.
There are no criminal charges because no prosecutor would waste time and money on allegations with no evidence, and delayed for 5 years.
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.
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.
Damn liberal democrats are such pussies and this comment section confirms. Republicans can do whatever the hell they want including fascism rape and murder but the democrats at tea time are in a tiff. Good luck winning back the senate.
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.
