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Assist for embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is cratering amongst Democrats, with one in all his most outstanding supporters calling on him to exit the race following a harrowing rape allegation.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., rescinded his endorsement and known as on Platner to droop his marketing campaign following a bombshell Politico report detailing a rape allegation by Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, who beforehand dated the scandal-plagued candidate.
Platner instantly denied Racicot’s account — which alleges that he barged into her house in 2021 and compelled her to have unprotected intercourse — however has mentioned his marketing campaign is figuring out its subsequent steps.
She additionally went on CNN Monday night shortly after the report was revealed to inform host Jake Tapper that “by dictionary definition” Platner “raped” her.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a city corridor occasion on Feb. 20, 2026 in Stanford, California. The city corridor targeted on taxing billionaires and the way forward for AI. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Pictures)
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“I assumed, this is a person who was drunk and who, by dictionary definition, raped me. And he is blaming drunk girls,” Racicot mentioned. “So I simply felt like that was a really odd take to have on that. And I additionally really feel like with all the feedback that he made about girls, sexual assault, rape, even, um, you recognize, the feedback that he had made that was in The New York Occasions article about, you recognize, threatening folks with rape, like, why does this individual have this subject, like scattered all through their life, all through their commentary, prefer it‘s on their thoughts?”
“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence towards girls is a pink line,” Khanna mentioned in a submit on social media Monday night. “These allegations are very severe and credible. Graham Platner ought to drop out from the race. I’m withdrawing my endorsement.”
Khanna’s assertion preceded Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the top of Senate Democrats’ marketing campaign arm, issuing a joint assertion calling on Platner to “instantly” depart the race, so the social gathering can select a brand new nominee.
The pair mentioned the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee (DSCC) wouldn’t spend money on Maine — a prime pick-up alternative for Democrats in November’s midterm elections — if he continued to hunt the battleground seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Each Schumer and Gillibrand supported Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, within the contentious major and didn’t endorse Platner till he gained the social gathering’s nomination.
In the meantime, Khanna, a far-left populist with possible presidential ambitions, had embraced Platner’s rebel Senate marketing campaign for months amid a patchwork of controversies.
Khanna personally campaigned with the Maine Senate hopeful in June shortly earlier than Platner turned the social gathering’s nominee. The marketing campaign cease got here simply at some point after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused Platner of abuse — an allegation first reported by The New York Occasions that Platner has fiercely denied.
By that time, Platner was additionally going through scrutiny for sending sexually specific messages to a minimum of half a dozen girls whereas married, making a plethora of offensive on-line statements over the interval of a decade and getting a Nazi-linked tattoo that he wore for many of his grownup life.
Shannon Watts, a Democratic strategist and founding father of the gun management group Mother Calls for Motion, slammed the timing of Khanna’s assertion.
“You flew to Maine to marketing campaign with him AFTER he was accused of assault towards one other lady,” Watts wrote on social media.
Khanna beforehand appeared to dismiss the severity of Fifield’s account alongside many Democratic lawmakers, who seized on her background in Republican politics. He additionally argued that Platner, a fight veteran who has struggled with PTSD, had overcome a darkish previous and was deserving of redemption.
“Right here you have got a case of somebody who had a darkish chapter in his life, was in poisonous relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this nation, and the Maine voters are saying, ‘Look, let’s give him some grace, and his focus is stopping these wars, and it’s getting nationwide medical health insurance, and it’s taking up financial inequality,” Khanna informed CBS Information in an interview.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his major election occasion in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Getty Pictures)
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And Khanna informed Fox Information’ Martha MacCallum in June that he requested Platner if there have been any credible allegations of sexual assault that had but to be revealed. He mentioned Platner denied it.
“I made it clear that, for me, is a pink line,” the California lawmaker mentioned. “And he mentioned, no, there may be not.”
“Now, clearly, he had texts that had been allegedly consensual, and whereas he was married, And that is a matter for him and his spouse. And his spouse got here out and mentioned that she forgave him. And so that could be a totally different matter for me than abuse or assault or what folks did within the Epstein class. It is a very totally different matter.”
Khanna was not the one outstanding Platner supporter to disavow the Senate hopeful following Monday’s rape allegation.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., an early Platner supporter, was the primary outstanding Democrat to rescind his endorsement after Politico’s report broke.
In the meantime, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., rescinded his endorsement Monday night, however stopped in need of calling on Platner to exit the race.
Gallego, a former ally of disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has confronted scrutiny over his previous remedy of girls. The Senate Ethics Committee lately dismissed a criticism introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in a bipartisan method.
His Arizona colleague, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who didn’t endorse Platner, additionally known as on the Senate hopeful to droop his marketing campaign.
“Character and accountability matter no matter social gathering,” Kelly wrote on social media. “It’s time for Graham Platner to drop out and permit for another person to be nominated and provides Democrats the perfect probability to win this seat in November.”
Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has championed socialist candidates throughout the nation, additionally distanced himself from Platner on Monday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., talks to reporters as he heads for a vote on the U.S. Capitol on Jun. 1, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures)
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“That is past pink flags. That is irredeemable,” Piker mentioned throughout his livestream.
Fox Information Digital reached out to Platner’s marketing campaign for remark.
