politics
Maine Senate candidate exits race after sexual assault allegation
Graham Platner withdrew from Maine's Democratic U.S. Senate race following an allegation of sexual assault from a former partner. Party officials plan to select a replacement nominee before the July 13 deadline.
Jul 8, 10:18 PM·1m read9 sources
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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner announced he will withdraw from Maine's Senate race after a woman who dated him said he forced her to have sex in 2021 despite her telling him to stop. Platner denied the allegation as categorically false in a video posted to social media.
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He said the decision was not an admission of guilt and called for the replacement process to be open, transparent and democratic.
Senate race continue to grow. Maine Democrats are making a plan to choose a new candidate in the next two weeks. Platner won the Democratic nomination on June 9 after defeating the governor in the primary. His campaign had already faced questions over a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol and years-old online comments that appeared to dismiss sexual assault.
The latest allegation surfaced Monday when a report described the account from Jenny Racicot, who said the encounter was not consensual. In a CNN interview she described it as rape by definition.
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