Graham Platner won Maine's Democratic Senate primary in a landslide on June 9. By July 8, his own party had stripped him of every endorsement, every dollar, and every phone call back. The Marine combat veteran and oyster farmer suspended his campaign in a video Tuesday, five days before the state deadline that would have locked him onto the ballot permanently.
The party of "believe all women" needed roughly 48 hours to memory-hole a man they'd been fundraising off for eleven months.
Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, told Politico on Monday that Platner had raped her approximately five years ago. She said he entered her home uninvited while "almost blackout drunk" and forced unprotected sex despite her repeated refusals. Racicot later told CNN's Jake Tapper that Platner, "by dictionary definition," raped her. A man she dated afterward confirmed she disclosed the incident to him at the time, and emails with her therapist corroborated the account.
A second woman, Lyndsey Fifield, also 41, came forward the same day accusing Platner of removing condoms without consent and physically grabbing her during their relationship. Platner's response to all of it: "These allegations are troubling, serious, and false."
Then came the endorsement avalanche — in reverse. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pulled her endorsement. Sen. Ruben Gallego pulled his. Rep. Ro Khanna, who said he'd "been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line," pulled his. Our Revolution, the PAC founded by Bernie Sanders, withdrew support. Sanders himself issued a statement Tuesday saying, "I have recommended that he step aside." The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, chaired by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, announced it would invest nothing in the race if Platner stayed. The Senate Majority PAC redirected its resources elsewhere.
Platner's suspension video was something. He blamed Washington for pulling the rug. "People in DC should stay in DC," he said. "Decisions should not be made in backrooms." He called the allegations an "excuse" to remove him and insisted, "This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real." Then came the concession dressed as martyrdom: "For the movement to continue, it can't be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations."
Sen. John Fetterman offered the party's official eulogy on Fox News: "The trash took itself out tonight."
Now here's where the timeline gets instructive. Platner launched his campaign in August 2025. Sanders endorsed him in September. He won the primary in a landslide. During that entire stretch, Platner also had a now-deleted Reddit account full of inflammatory posts, a tattoo he admitted resembled a Nazi symbol (later covered up), sexually explicit messages sent while married, and multiple ex-girlfriends alleging violent episodes and rape fantasies. A former campaign staffer wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing his conduct. None of this stopped the party apparatus from elevating him as their best shot at flipping Susan Collins' seat in a 53-47 Senate.
The NRSC Press Secretary Cantrell summarized it without much subtlety: "Maine Democrats elected a rapist Nazi to be their nominee."
Remember, this is the same party that held up Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation for weeks over uncorroborated allegations from decades prior. Senators gave tearful floor speeches. Protesters occupied the Capitol steps. "Believe all women" was printed on signs, stitched onto hats, hashtagged into permanence. That was the standard — their standard — when the accused had an R next to his name.
Platner had a D. So he got a landslide primary win, a Sanders endorsement, and eleven months of fundraising before the same party that invented #MeToo as a political weapon quietly asked him to please go away before the ballot deadline. Maine Democrats now have until July 27 to select a replacement nominee, which will happen in whatever backroom Platner just complained about.
As reported by the New York Post's Miranda Devine, this is a party that shows its true colors when the accused is one of their own. The late-June polling had this race within single digits — Fox News had Collins up 3, the New York Times/Siena poll had Platner up 2. Democrats weren't distancing themselves from Platner because of principle. They were distancing themselves because he became a liability.
"Believe all women" was never a principle. It was a tool. And tools get put back in the drawer when the job is done.
