Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate race, ending tumultuous campaign

Zachary Schermele and Terry Collins, USA TODAYThu, July 9, 2026 at 12:30 AM UTC

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WASHINGTON – After a tumultuous campaign beset by scandals, Graham Platner, the oyster farmer who Democrats hoped could help them wrest the U.S. Senate from Republican control, dropped out of the high-stakes Maine race.

It was a catastrophic finish to a controversial candidacy – one fueled by grassroots momentum that eventually spiraled into an internal reckoning for national Democrats. Reconciling their desire to unseat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins with the troubling picture of her opponent's past was a near-constant struggle.

Ultimately, it was an allegation of sexual assault that brought Platner's once-formidable campaign to an end.

In a July 8 announcement, he vehemently denied the allegation but said the ensuing political fallout was too much to overcome.

"We believe that for the movement to continue, it can't be me," he said in an 11-minute social media video. "And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations."

"This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt," he continued. "And it most certainly is not. We're not doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures being taken away from us by those in power."

Sexual assault allegation surfaces

Jenny Racicot, a woman Platner dated years ago, accused him in interviews with multiple news outlets of drunkenly entering her home in 2021 and sexually assaulting her. The accusation first appeared in Politico, and later in CNN and The Washington Post, on July 6. Racicot said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual. Platner, who is 41, denied the account.

Racicot, a Democrat, said she struggled for months about whether to come forward with her story.

“I really agree with his politics," she told CNN. "I just think it’s fair to the democratic process to let people know who they are voting for."

The state party can still replace Platner. But leaders have to move quickly. Under Maine law, they need to coalesce around another contender, who must declare their candidacy by July 27.

During an emergency meeting Wednesday just before Platner's announcement, more than 100 Maine Democrats voted to hold a nominating convention this month. State party leaders said more details and a timeline would be announced "soon."

"We will keep the public informed throughout this process," they wrote, saying, "transparency is of the utmost importance."

Republican Susan Collins will be tough to beat

The last-minute candidate swap has injected a fresh sense of urgency and uncertainty into Maine's Senate race, which may determine control of the chamber in the November elections – and therefore the fate of President Donald Trump's second-term agenda.

Collins, who's bucked electoral expectations many times in her three decades in Washington, will be tough to beat, even with the headwinds facing the GOP. The 73-year-old is well known in Maine and serves as the powerful chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which helps determine where billions of dollars in federal money flow across the country.

But she's shown recent signs of weakness. Platner, even amid a cloud of controversy, was neck-and-neck with her in recent polling (and ahead by some estimates). A new candidate with less baggage could give Democrats the edge they'd need to defeat her – or invite a round of 11th-hour scrutiny for a fresh, untested face.

The outcome will hinge on who Democrats choose, and how successfully the party can unite around that candidate.

As the Platner situation came to a boil on July 6, Collins said in a statement that the allegations against her opponent were appalling.

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"Nevertheless," she said, "it is not up to me to choose the Democratic nominee for Senate."

Read more: Democrats quickly turn on Platner after new sexual assault allegation

A troubled campaign

An oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran, Platner began his Senate campaign as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

His political wings were quickly clipped, however, after a scandal last year stemming from Reddit posts from 2018 and images of him with a tattoo of a skull-and-crossbones design broadly recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner acknowledged and apologized for his prior posts, saying he wrote them during a dark time in his life, after his final tour in Afghanistan in 2018. Later, he announced on Instagram he'd gotten a new tattoo to cover the old one, saying he was "appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol."

That was just the beginning of the problems he'd face as a candidate. Evidence that he'd sent sexually explicit messages to women outside his marriage years ago emerged at the start of the summer. So did accusations, which he denounced, that he'd engaged in intimidating and disturbing behavior against women he previously dated.

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Democrats line up against Platner

When Racicot first shared her account of sexual assault with reporters on July 6, the political fallout was swift, locally and nationally.

Within hours, prominent Democrats who'd spent months explaining away other details from Platner's past rescinded their support, saying assault crossed a line for them. Crucially, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the head of Senate Democrats' midterm operation, told him to withdraw his candidacy immediately.

They said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, would not invest in the Maine race if Platner were on the ballot. Senate Majority PAC, Democrats' official Senate fundraising war chest, made a similar announcement.

For Platner's campaign, those reversals were a financial death knell.

"The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing – violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable," Schumer and Gillibrand said in a joint statement, saying they wanted to "allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins."

Even Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, one of Platner's most ardent and high-profile supporters in Congress, who shared many of his progressive views, withdrew her backing.

"Now more than ever, we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values," she said in a July 6 statement.

Among the first to spurn Platner was the Maine Democratic Party. State leaders went on to publicly spar with him over what they characterized as efforts to influence their process to select his successor. (He disputed their accusation he was trying to put his "thumb on the scale.") They said the choice was about putting principles over party affiliations.

"We are entrusted with deciding who represents our values and who carries our banner," they wrote in a statement. "That responsibility requires judgment, leadership, and a willingness to act when circumstances demand it."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate race after new allegation

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