Maine Democrat Graham Platner suspended his campaign for Senate on Wednesday night, a move that allows the state party to select an alternate candidate to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a marquee matchup this fall.
Platner’s announcement that he would drop out of the race comes two days after he denied a Politico report that he had sexually assaulted a woman he once dated.
“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me,” Platner said in an 11-minute video posted to social media. “And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations.”
Platner reiterated that the accusations against him are false. But he said that the political system had taken away the structure needed to run a viable Senate campaign.
“The brutal political reality is that they are going to take everything away from us,” he said. “Those in power, who have the ability to do so, are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign.”
