💣🫣Lessons from Graham Platner’s implosion

😳HE’S TOAST — When GRAHAM PLATNER arrived in Washington after the New York Times exposed his alleged abusive past with women, his biggest backers — Sens. BERNIE SANDERS and ELIZABETH WARREN — pressed him with one major question.

Sanders wanted to know if more allegations were imminent; Warren drew a line between reports about his “marital issues” and any allegations of sexual assault — were there any of the latter forthcoming? Platner insisted no “credible” allegations were pending.

Turns out he lied — and his progressive backers bought it, hook, line and sinker.

Now, POLITICO has unearthed a new, damning allegation that has Platner’s biggest left-leaning backers deserting him in droves: An ex-girlfriend says Platner drove drunk to her house one night five years ago, entered without consent, then raped her.

“I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice,’” 41-year-old Maine resident JENNY RACICOT told them, recounting details of what transpired.

Racicot has receipts to back up the allegation, which Platner denies. She spoke to her therapist at the time about the incident as well as friends and, later, a new boyfriend. They confirmed her account is the same today as it was back then.

The only reason she stayed silent this long? ➡️“The huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” she told Politico. “I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person.”

👋DEMS ARE NOW ABANDONING PLATNER. Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and the DSCC tonight demanded he step aside, vowing that they “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.” Liberal outside groups are fleeing; Maine’s Democratic Party has cut bait. Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) — who campaigned with Platner even after the NYT’s troubling story — rescinded his endorsements.

Ro Khanna@RoKhanna

I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.

9:21 PM · Jul 6, 2026 · 680K Views

2.63K Replies · 790 Reposts · 7.52K Likes

Even radical Twitch celeb HASAN PIKER says Platner’s campaign is essentially dead.

“That is curtains,” Piker said, reacting to the news on a livestream. “Okay, that is the trifecta of a reliable allegation. It’s holy shit...I believe this, this accusation. I believe this allegation.”

(If you’re a lefty who’s lost Piker… )

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☝️THREE LESSONS FROM THIS DISASTER — Platner’s implosion should serve as a wake-up call for progressives. A few lessons — if any are looking for a little self-reflection:

1.)Heed the warning signs! — The crazy part about this entire predicament is that it was entirely predictable. There was Platner’s Nazi tat. The Reddit posts blaming women for their own sexual assaults. There were his past attacks on veterans who almost died in the line of duty. There was the story about him “sexting” with more than half-dozen women while married.

And if those weren’t enough, Platner’s answer to Sanders’ and Warren’s question about potential forthcoming allegations — that none “credible” existed — should have triggered the final warning siren that now is the time to abandon ship.

Progressives want to move the party left — but at what cost?

“Beating Susan Collins in Maine was going to be hard under the best circumstances. This is a massive black eye for the progressives who failed to appropriately vet Platner and may have cost us a Senate seat,” one former Senate aide tells me tonight.

2.)Schumer’s ‘I-Told-You-So’ moment — For over a year, many on the left have agitated against Schumer for putting his thumb on the scale in Senate primaries such as these. Schumer had backed Maine Gov. JANET MILLS against Platner before she dropped out, one of several endorsements that have infuriated progressives.

Some progressives in the Senate — who call themselves “Fight Club” — have even reportedly privately groused that new leadership is necessary because of Schumer’s interference.

And yet if there is any “winner” from the Platner saga, it’s not only Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), but the Democratic leader himself, who’s experiencing an “I told you so” moment. This, ladies and gents, is why he wades into contested races: to ensure that quality candidates who can win make the ballot.

3.)Don’t attack accusers for political reasons. In the wake of the “Me Too” movement, Democrats have fashioned themselves as the political party that “believes the women.” Until doing so wasn’t politically expedient…

In the wake of the New York Times story, some progressives assailed accuser LYNDSEY FIFIELD, who bravely went on record to recount how Platner had set hands on her when they were together.

Her crime? Being a Republican. Fifield had worked for the conservative Heritage Foundation, prompting Platner supporters to argue that her stories about him locking her in a room and yanking her out of a cab were made up to hurt his candidacy — even as other ex-girlfriends accused him of “unsettling” conduct.

4.)Candidates matter. Listen to the talking heads in recent weeks, they’ll tell you that personal baggage and scandal no longer drag down candidates. In the age of DONALD TRUMP, who has bounced back from numerous allegations and scandals, many political prognosticators have opined that personal baggage no longer lands with voters — that voters are more interested in what candidates can do for them, regardless of personal shortcomings.

But we’ve learned repeatedly that Trump’s special brand of Teflon is not transferable to other candidates. Platner is just the latest proof.

WHAT NOW — The big question everyone’s asking tonight: Will Platner drop out? The real question in my mind is WHEN, not if…

Already, some Democrats are calling potential replacements. And Platner himself — who in recent days canceled a bunch of campaign events (now we know why!) — released a video acknowledging that he was considering withdrawing from the race.

“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,” Platner said in a direct-to- camera social media video. “Those were the goals when we launched this campaign, and they remain my goals today.”

Such a move would obviously help Democrats. While Platner won the nomination in the early June primary, state law gives candidates until July 13 — one week from today — to drop out. Maine Democrats have two more weeks (until July 27) for the party to pick a replacement (h/t to Maine editor Alex Seitz-Wald).

The timing of this story — coming a week before this deadline — is also already spurring chatter about who was behind it. Don’t look at the Republicans — they’ve been sitting on their own Platner opposition files for a while now, waiting to hit him hard until after the replacement window closes to ensure he’s the final candidate.

Now they may never get to use that ammunition.

No, it’s Democrats who now have a prayer of cleaning up this mess with a fresh face in their bid to try to unseat the formidable Collins. It may, however, be too little, too late.