Graham Platner canceled a campaign event, and later, the chances of him dropping out skyrocketed. It all happened today. Rumors are swirling that the Maine Democrat expected to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins might have more skeletons in the closet, which isn’t a reassuring sign for Democrats in this must-win race if they want to retake the Senate. The latest bombshell did drop, and it’s not good. Platner has been accused of sexual assault. The victim is also someone who admits she agrees with him politically (via Politico) [WARNING: Some graphic content]:
Within an hour of his campaign saying he was cancelling events because he wasn’t feeling well.
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) July 6, 2026
Remember when @grahamformaine promised there wouldn’t be any more scandals? pic.twitter.com/Ua5mLKp0iG
Graham Platner has canceled a campaign event for unclear reasons.
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) July 6, 2026
The cancellation comes as polls are testing other candidates against Collins, while rumors continue to circulate about a possible new scandal involving Platner. pic.twitter.com/kwB8srDNn5
Controversial Maine Democrat Graham Platner Cancels Campaign Event as Calls Grow for Him to Drop Out of Senate Race
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) July 6, 2026
A woman who dated Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.
The woman, a 41-year-old Maine resident named Jenny Racicot, detailed the alleged incident to POLITICO in three interviews over the past two weeks. POLITICO also spoke with a man Racicot dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident, and reviewed documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.
Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner, who is now the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she said. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”
Platner denied the allegations.
Racicot said she later felt compelled to go public about her experience because the reaction to the Times story was dominated by controversy about another woman, Lyndsey Fifield, who alleged Platner mistreated her and faced attacks because of her ties to the Republican Party. (Contacted by POLITICO, Fifield stood by the allegations she made to the Times and declined to comment further.)
“My part of the story was just a read-over,” Racicot said in an interview. “And the story was Lyndsey, and the accusations of her being politically motivated.”
Racicot said she was torn over coming forward in part because she agrees with Platner politically.
[…]
“One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” she said. “I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person.”
[…]
Racicot told POLITICO she connected with Platner on the dating app Bumble in 2019 and had consensual relations with him prior to the night he allegedly assaulted her.
That night in late 2021, she said she had exchanged text messages with him and told him not to come over, saying she wasn’t in the mood for company. Later that evening, she said she realized when she heard a sound on the stairs that he had let himself into her house, which was unlocked.
Platner came up the stairs, Racicot said, to where she was on a couch. He got on top of her and kept grabbing her, she said, while she repeatedly told him to stop and that she wasn’t interested. Racicot said she smelled alcohol on his breath and believed he was “almost blackout drunk” because Platner ignored her protests and continued to grab her after knocking over an antique sewing kit, spilling small needles everywhere.
“I had been telling him these words, like: ‘No, don’t,’” she recalled.
“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 said.
Racicot said she tried to separate herself from Platner by telling him she couldn’t be in that room anymore, after which he followed her to her bedroom and had sex with her against her will. She said he also ejaculated inside of her despite her telling him not to, as she was not using birth control at the time.
She went to clean herself up, she said, and when she returned, Platner had fallen asleep. She contemplated waking him up to kick him out, but worried he could hurt someone driving in the state he was in.
The following morning, she said, Platner tried to put his arm around her and she pushed him away. She said she asked him whether he remembered what had happened the previous night; according to Racicot, Platner said he didn’t remember. Racicot said she told him to leave and never contact her again.
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JUST IN — A woman has come forward accusing Graham Platner of forcing her to have sex with him five years ago.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 6, 2026
Politico reports that a woman has gone on the record to detail the allegation against Platner.
"I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful..."
"I… pic.twitter.com/1buLjlyTp5
This comes weeks after The New York Times published an in-depth article about Platner’s allegations of domestic abuse. No claims of sexual assault were included in that piece, but it detailed extensive allegations of emotional abuse and noted his full awareness of having a Nazi tattoo on his chest. After that story was published, it became clear that it wasn’t the full story but a watered-down version.
Political strategists on both sides suspected there was more to discover, despite Mr. Platner informing Democrats and the country that there was no there there.
If Maine Democrats need to make a swap, now is the time, as they approach the July 13 deadline to make their decision on potentially replacing him on the ballot.
The man has Nazi tattoos, allegations of domestic abuse, a graphic social media history, and now rape accusations. The other shoe that we all knew was going to drop has fallen. Now, Democrats must wonder if a man with all this baggage can win in Maine.
Platner has posted a response to these allegations:
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
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