A lot of people called for Graham Platner to drop out of Maine’s Senate race Monday night, after a rape allegation surfaced against the Democratic nominee. But relatively few of them were Republicans.
Even Platner’s GOP opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, called the allegations against the oysterman “appalling” but added that it was “not up to me to choose the Democratic nominee for Senate.”
There’s a simple reason for that: Democrats’ hopes of winning the seat and, by extension, the Senate, could hinge on Platner stepping aside.
For now, Platner is still in the race, and he denies the allegation from former girlfriend Jenny Racicot that he showed up at her residence drunk five years ago and raped her. CNN and Politico, which first reported the story, both corroborated Racicot’s account with people and documents that show she talked about him sexually assaulting her before he was a political candidate.
Platner said Monday that he will take some time to “reflect” on his candidacy. Platner is also reportedly trying to guide the Maine Democratic Party toward a potential replacement with whom he is politically aligned.
