After a scandal-plagued campaign, including reports of crass comments about rape victims, Graham Platner drops out with candidates lining up to replace him

Troy Jackson (right) is considered a prime candidate to replace Graham Platner (WUFT News)

Graham Platner dropped out of the U.S. Senate race last night, and Maine Democrats already are lining up to take his place. A rape allegation from a former girlfriend proved to be too much for the scandal-plagued Platner to overcome. That is ironic because earlier yesterday, an old Reddit post surfaced in which Platner made insensitive remarks about rape victims, saying they should take some responsibility for being victimized. It is unknown what impact the rape remarks might have had on Platner's decision to exit the race, but given all of the other instances where he had shown poor judgement -- plus the crassness of his statements -- they might have crushed any hope he had of remaining a viable candidate.

Democratic Party power brokers in D.C. had made it clear that they would not help fund Platner's campaign if he opted to continue, and that pretty much ended any hope he had of remaining in the race. It also gave other Maine Democrats a chance to pounce on a spot that had opened up. Politico provides the latest on a race that could determine which party winds up controlling the Senate after the November midterms. Under the headline "Graham Platner just dropped out. Here's who could replace him," Erin Doherty and Andrew Howard write:

Graham Platner just dropped out of Maine’s Senate race. Some Democrats have already said they want to replace him.

A POLITICO report of a new sexual allegation against Platner on Monday set off a scramble among Maine Democrats, as they pressured the candidate to step down and weighed who could take his place to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the only Republican running in a state won by Kamala Harris this cycle. The party has long held that winning the Maine Senate race will be critical to retaking control of the upper chamber.

Some, like former Senate President Troy Jackson, were more explicit than others, setting up joint fundraising committees before Platner dropped out. Others, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, said they would “seriously consider” entering the race if Platner suspended his campaign. Meanwhile, a few possible candidates, including Rep. Jared Golden, Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry and actor Patrick Dempsey (yes, really) have ruled themselves out.

Now, jockeying for the nomination is expected to accelerate, with less than four months until Election Day. State law gives the Maine Democratic Party the authority to replace Platner, and mandates that his successor must be chosen by July 27. On Wednesday, just before Platner suspended his campaign, the Maine Democratic Party approved tentative plans for a nominating convention to pick his successor.

Here is how Politico sees the race shaping up, now that Platner and his personal baggage are no longer factors:

Troy Jackson

Jackson, who was a Platner ally before calling on him to step aside Monday, swiftly launched his Senate bid after Platner suspended his campaign.

“I’m in. And we’re going to defeat Susan Collins,” Jackson wrote in a post on X. “Maine deserves a Senator that will fight for working families.”

Jackson was widely speculated to jump into the race and had filed his interest in a bid with the Federal Election Commission before Wednesday.

A logger with long ties to organized labor, he’s quickly attracted attention from many of the oysterman’s progressive supporters. Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has already thrown its support behind Jackson.

But already, some votes from his 20-year history in the legislature are resurfacing, such as his 2009 state Senate vote against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, giving Platner’s base a bit of pause. He later called that the “worst vote I ever took.” His closeness to Platner during the primary may also give pause to some Democrats as they choose their next nominee.

Still, as one of a number of Democrats who just lost the primary for governor, Jackson has the benefit of being able to quickly rebuild his campaign.

Dan Kleban 

Kleban also announced his bid Wednesday. The 49-year-old founder of Maine Beer Company had dropped out of the Democratic Senate primary earlier this year and threw his weight behind establishment-backed Gov. Janet Mills. 

“Mainers deserve a senator who will fight for them against the D.C. establishment while also doing what’s right,” Kleban said in a statement. “I plan to be that senator.” He should be able to quickly rebuild his campaign.

Considering running

Nirav Shah

Shah, a former public health official, is “evaluating” whether he will mount a Senate bid, he told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon. But he was already positioning himself as a candidate before Platner’s announcement.

He called for an open process on Tuesday, including at least one televised debate, and multiple public town halls across Maine.

Shah oversaw the state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He mounted his first run for public office earlier this year, finishing second in Maine’s gubernatorial primary. He said in an interview that he is “very, very much aligned” with Platner’s politics. 

Shenna Bellows

In a statement on Tuesday, the Maine Secretary of State said she would “seriously consider entering this race, because I believe I am uniquely fit to unite Mainers and defeat Susan Collins in just over 100 days.” 

Bellows, who also ran unsuccessfully for governor, has been fielding calls about a potential run, according to a person familiar with her campaign, granted anonymity to speak about private conversations. The person pointed to her ideological alignment with Platner on progressive issues and compelling biography — she grew up poor in rural Maine and flipped a GOP-held state Senate district — providing an early glimpse of part of her pitch if she decides to enter the race. 

Bellows previously ran for Senate and lost badly to Collins in 2014. She will need to prove to voters that she can win this time around, given her past defeat. 

Jordan Wood

Wood is another former Senate candidate, but he switched to run for the state’s 2nd District after Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) decided he wouldn’t attempt reelection. Wood finished third in that race with state Auditor Matt Dunlap winning the nomination after a ranked-choice count.

A former staffer of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Wood may have trouble courting Platner supporters who want someone from outside of D.C. But he posted solid fundraising during his House run and has worked hard to keep his name in the fold. 

Paige Loud

Loud also ran for Congress in the 2nd District, coming in last during the first round of voting.. She quickly filed interest paperwork with the FEC on Tuesday to succeed Platner.

“I don’t think we should be electing a man,” Loud, who also held an unpaid role on Platner’s campaign before leaving earlier this year, said in an interview. “I think I’m tired of making women vote for a man.” 

Valli Geiger

People close to Platner have been quick to mention Geiger — a member of the state House and top ally of the oysterman — as a potential successor. But Wednesday brought some drama on whether she would have Platner's blessing. 

Geiger told a Maine local outlet that Platner said he was throwing his support behind her. The Platner campaign then said that no such commitment was made. 

In an interview with MS NOW, Geiger said she’d taken calls about running for Senate and that she would be willing to run. But the 70-year-old state representative said a younger candidate would be better.

Andrea LaFlamme

LaFlamme was a write-in candidate during the Democratic Senate primary, receiving just over 1,000 votes. On Tuesday, she said she believes she is the “best person to take on Susan Collins” in a post on Bluesky.

LaFlamme initially launched her write-in bid because of Platner’s earlier controversies, telling the student paper of the college she works for that electing Platner “sends the message that women are not valued.” Given the fate of her write-in campaign, and the number of well-known Democrats already running, it’s unlikely she will ultimately take on Collins. 

Platner's thoughtless comments about rape victims 

Graham Platner, Maine's embattled Democratic Senate nominee who stands accused of rape, made a Reddit post in 2013 where he criticized victims of rape.

"Holy f---, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to?" Platner wrote in 2013, responding to another user who expressed disappointment that women couldn't get intoxicated without fearing sexual assault.

"Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don't want to be in a comprising [sic.] situation, act like an adult for f---s sake," Platner continued. "Rape is a real thing, if you're so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear, you'd think you might not get blacked out f---ed up around people you aren't comfortable with."

Dem activists who conducted a rushed vetting process seem more interested in attacking party status quo than finding a candidate who lacks baggage overload

Graham Platner faces crumbling support among Democrats (NY Times)

Democratic Party operatives conducted an unusually speedy and cheap vetting process on Graham Platner, U.S. Senate candidate from Maine. That process unearthed some of the troubling events in Platner's past but missed others. What appears to have been a slipshod examination of Platner's background has come back to bite the party after a former girlfriend accused Platner of rape, leading Democratic power brokers to call for Platner to step down -- even threatening to withhold funds for his campaign if he refuses to exit. Perhaps most importantly, the cratering of Platner's support threatens to dash Democratic hopes of taking over the U.S. Senate in the November midterms.

According to a report at Yahoo! News, based on reporting from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and written by a reporter from Fox News Digital, vetting has become an increasingly important part of political campaigns. In an age of 24-hour media coverage, parties want to make sure that candidates have not displayed the kind of poor judgment or made insensitive statements that, if uncovered, might cause their campaigns to implode. That lesson apparently was lost on the three activists -- Dan Moraff, Leanne Fan, and Morris Katz -- who have been credited (or perhaps blamed) for handpicking Platner. 

Under the headline "Platner's three-day vetting job comes back to haunt Dems as rape allegation rocks Senate bid," Robert Schmad, of Fox News Digital, writes:

Democratic operatives reportedly commissioned a brief, low-cost background check on Graham Platner before launching his Senate campaign, a decision that appears to be backfiring as new allegations and controversies engulf the candidate and Democrats call on him to drop out.

Candidate vetting, which has become standard practice in high-stakes elections, is a process that often takes several weeks and tens of thousands of dollars to properly complete. Democratic strategist and top Platner staffer Dan Moraff, however, paid just $6,250 for a background check on Platner that took only three days, sources familiar with the process told The Wall Street Journal.

Vetting processes are undertaken to help ensure prospective elected officials don’t have personal baggage that could, if discovered, derail their candidacy. 

Platner's candidacy became messy shortly after he announced his campaign in August 2025, and it has only grown messier as the months passed.  Schmad writes:

Platner faces a rape allegation from one former girlfriend and separate allegations of abusive behavior from another, all of which he denies. The Maine Senate hopeful has also faced scrutiny over a Nazi-linked tattoo that he got during his time in the Marine Corps, as well as sexually explicit texts he sent to other women while he was married.

While these issues didn’t come up in the brief risk-assessment memo produced for Platner’s campaign, some controversial items that have since been reported did, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of them," Moraff told The Wall Street Journal, referencing Platner’s now-deleted Reddit posts.

Using the since-deleted Reddit account, Platner denigrated members of the United States armed forces, going as far as to state that one wounded veteran deserved to die due to his conduct under fire. He also made comments alluding to familiarity with prostitution and hard drugs, as well as expressing support for political violence and socialism. 

Platner has since apologized for the posts, attributing them to psychological trauma incurred during his time in the military as well as the gruff culture he became accustomed to while serving as an infantryman. 

In trying to stand behind Platner, at least one Democratic activist made statements that some voters might find off-putting, Schmad writes:

When asked by The Wall Street Journal what he thought when initially shown the posts, Moraff said he told Platner "none of this will or should stop you from becoming a US senator." 

In light of recent events, it's not hard to imagine some would-be voters responding, "Maybe you shouldn't be so sure about that."

With a law degree from Yale University, Moraff clearly is not a dummy. But he seems to have a tin ear that might be a liability in today's environment. Schmad writes about more of Moraff's questionable statements:

"If what the voters wanted were people who were grown in vats and had never done or said anything that they might regret their entire lives, we’d have a very different country," Moraff continued. "Part of our thesis here is that people do not want their candidates grown in vats. They want people who are real human beings and they want people who do not look and sound like the lab-grown people who’ve been leading this country off a cliff."

A Platner campaign official told The Wall Street Journal that they didn’t have the resources to pay for a more thorough vetting of Platner, claiming that even a more robust background check would not have turned up any additional useful information about him. The background check did not include interviews or require Platner to fill out a questionnaire, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Speaking of The WSJ, its reporter, Aaron Zitner found that Moraff is not the only activist in Platner's orbit with a tendency to make off-center statements that might not play well on Main Street. Fellow activist Morris Katz seems to be on the same wavelength:

"To me, the biggest risk the Democratic Party can take is continuing to do things the same way it's done, that have ended us with a House minority, a Senate minority, and a second term of Donald Trump," Katz said. "And I think we cannot be the party that is the party of the establishment, the party of the institution."

He continued, "So, you know, constantly in the position of, 'Hey, we know you're being screwed by everyone in power, but let us just tinker around the edges there, and eventually it will get better.' That's an incoherent electoral strategy, and it's failed to actually make things better to the degree they need to get better. And so I think there's far less risk in running someone like Graham Platner than in running the same playbook."

Accusation of rape against Maine front-runner Graham Platner causes candidate's support to collapse and muddies Democrats' hopes of taking over U.S. Senate

(CNN)

Top Democrats in the U.S. Senate say they will withhold funding from the Maine Senate race if front-runner Graham Platner remains on the ballot. That comes after reports yesterday that a former girlfriend had accused Platner of rape. A growing number of Democrats, including one-time supporters, are calling for Platner to exit the race, but he had not announced a decision as of 9:30 p.m. CDT. The following is from an NPR report under the headline "Graham Platner faces growing calls to withdraw following allegations of sexual assault." Elena Moore and Barbara Sprunt report:

Graham Platner is facing calls to end his Senate bid in Maine, following an allegation of sexual assault, the latest in a string of controversies against the Democratic candidate. 

Politico reported Monday an account made by Platner's former girlfriend, who alleges that in 2021, Platner entered her home intoxicated in rural Maine and forced her to have sex over her repeated objections. NPR has not independently verified the claims; in a statement Platner denied them.

"These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue," he said. The denial, so far, has not kept Platner's support from appearing to cave in. From the NPR report:

Within hours of the story, a cascade of Democratic lawmakers called on Platner to exit the race, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. 

"The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot," they said in a statement.

The Maine Democratic Party called on Platner to withdraw from the race, as did one of Platner's most high-profile supporters in Congress, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. 

"Now more than ever we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values. There can be no tolerance for sexual assault. Working families are counting on Democrats to win the Senate election in Maine to unrig our economy and hold Donald Trump accountable. With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race," Warren said in a statement. 

The first sentence in the above paragraph probably is a not-so-subtle reference by Warren to credible accusations, documented in FBI memos and court documents, of child sexual-assault allegations against Republican President Donald Trump and his longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein. You can almost hear Warren saying under her breath, "Look at how we in the Democratic Party handle serious allegations, such as these against Graham Platner -- and compare that to the Republican strategy of delay and cover up for Trump and his associates in the Epstein files."

Platner has been a popular but troubled candidate almost from the outset in Maine. He announced his candidacy on August 19, 2025. Reports of dubious conduct in his past first came to light in October 2025 (two months into his campaign) when controversial, deleted Reddit posts revealed that he had downplayed sexual assault and made inflammatory statements about certain classes of people living in Maine and elsewhere.

Platner's past did not seem to bother Mainers, as they helped him earn more primary votes than any other Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in state history. He also had more votes than all eight Republican candidates for governor combined.

While many observers surely will applaud Democrats' tough stance with Platner, his supporters likely will take note of Democrats appearing to abandon Platner, while Republicans remain solidly behind Trump. From NPR:

Platner would need to end his bid for Senate by July 13 in order for Maine Democrats to nominate a replacement in time for the general election, according to Maine election law. Were that to happen, "a political committee" would have until July 27 — the fourth Monday in July — to select a replacement. 

Despite his denial of the allegations in the Politico story, Platner released a video on social media saying, "regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins."

The Maine election has national implications and has been one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races of all. Moore and Sprunt write:

The allegations have far-reaching implications for Democrats and their hopes of winning back the majority in the Senate in this fall's midterm elections. The party needs to net a total of four seats to take control of the chamber, and Maine is key to that effort. President Trump lost the state in 2024, and party officials believe incumbent Susan Collins could be vulnerable in a year when Republicans are facing political headwinds. 

But the allegations around Platner have complicated what was already a narrow path back to power for Democrats. Since launching his campaign last August, the first-time candidate has been the subject of multiple scandals surrounding his private life.

In June, The New York Times published accounts from three women who previously had romantic relationships with Platner, and characterized his behavior as "unsettling." They described how Platner could be demeaning toward women, and in one instance, physically threatening.

The woman who accused Platner of assault in the Politico story was included in the Times piece, but did not include the specific assault allegation there. 

In response to the reporting, Platner took responsibility for what he called a "very dark period of my life," telling the Times that he often abused alcohol and was "a far from perfect boyfriend," though he also added that "any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated." In a subsequent interview with Maine Public Radio, Platner said any suggestion that he engaged in physically threatening behavior was "just not true."