{"id":803,"date":"2026-07-06T22:44:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2026-07-06T22:44:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:44:34","slug":"times-up-for-graham-platner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"Time\u2019s up for Graham Platner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Monday the Maine Senate race was rocked with sexual assault allegations reported by POLITICO against Democratic nominee Graham Platner, who is \u201ctaking the time to reflect on the best path forward,\u201d according to a statement. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more \u201cTroubling, serious, false\u201d: Platner says he\u2019ll take time to \u201creflect\u201d following assault allegation<\/a><\/p>\n

But his withdrawal from the race should be immediate. <\/span>The accusations by Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who had what she described as an on-and-off relationship with Platner, are serious and credible, involving a nonconsensual sexual encounter in which she repeatedly asked him to stop and he refused. Among the evidence Racicot used to corroborate her claim to POLITICO were screenshots from a series of Facebook messages in which she warned off an acquaintance from dating him by describing him as \u201cconsensually careless.\u201d In a statement, Platner said the accusation was \u201ccategorically false\u201d and referred to POLITICO\u2019s reporting as inaccurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the news broke, Democrats across the political spectrum began calling for Platner\u2019s withdrawal, and the leadership of the Maine Democratic Party announced the organization was withdrawing its support.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Balogun red card controversy: FIFA rejects Belgium\u2019s appeal ahead of US match<\/a><\/p>\n

Platner is not a typical politician, which has been the secret sauce to his everyman appeal among Democrats in \u2014 and beyond \u2014 Maine who are looking for maverick candidates to counteract MAGA\u2019s working-class appeal. He has been open about his struggles with mental health and substance abuse, and he has proven adept at talking around issues that might have doomed a different candidate, including a history of offensive online comments, a tattoo linked to Nazism and a June 4 <\/span>report<\/span> from the New York Times detailing a series of alleged \u201cvolatile and \u2018toxic\u2019 relationships\u201d with women.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that silver-tongued ability ends now. Platner should immediately acknowledge the political reality and a looming deadline. Under Maine law, the state\u2019s Democratic Party can replace him if he withdraws before 5 p.m. on Monday, July 13. His candidacy is doomed \u2014 and the Democrats have a Senate to win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The golden ambition of \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d can\u2019t be tarnished<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sexual assault allegations against Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee are credible \u2014 and fatal to his candidacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[243,4,1129,563,564,291],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-2026-midterms","tag-commentary","tag-democrats-senate","tag-graham-platner","tag-maine","tag-sexual-assault"],"yoast_head":"\nTime\u2019s up for Graham Platner - Relocation Across America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time\u2019s up for Graham Platner - Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sexual assault allegations against Maine's Democratic Senate nominee are credible \u2014 and fatal to his candidacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-06T22:44:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"headline\":\"Time\u2019s up for Graham Platner\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T22:44:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803\"},\"wordCount\":361,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8ed9a26621bb88a98418d8e22b5adf34.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2026 Midterms\",\"Commentary\",\"Democrats Senate\",\"Graham Platner\",\"Maine\",\"Sexual Assault\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803\",\"name\":\"Time\u2019s up for Graham Platner - Relocation Across America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8ed9a26621bb88a98418d8e22b5adf34.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T22:44:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8ed9a26621bb88a98418d8e22b5adf34.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8ed9a26621bb88a98418d8e22b5adf34.jpg\",\"width\":1692,\"height\":1142,\"caption\":\"BLUE HILL, MAINE - JUNE 9: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his Primary Election event on June 9, 2026 in Blue Hill, Maine. 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