Some candidate problems arrive one at a time. Graham Platner, the Maine Democratic Party’s nominee for United States Senate, has a Nazi tattoo, which he says was a mistake, and a woman named Jenny Racicot who told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that Platner “absolutely” raped her in 2021, which Platner vehemently denies, and a top campaign ally who told reporters the allegation is “a red line,” and a Maine Democratic Party that is now publicly warning of “civil war” within its own ranks, and Kevin McCarthy, who went on Fox News to take a victory lap about Republicans’ superior ability to select candidates with clean records, which prompted commenters on social media to list several dozen Republican candidates with records that are, at minimum, complicated.
Racicot’s allegations were first reported by Politico on Monday, per Fox News. She told Politico, over three separate interviews, that Platner forced her to have sex with him against her will in 2021, describing him as “almost blackout drunk” at the time. “I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'” On CNN, Tapper noted she had not used the word “rape” in her Politico account and asked directly if she believed Platner had raped her. She said: “By definition? Yes, absolutely.”
Platner has vehemently denied the allegations. He has not withdrawn from the race. The Maine Democratic Party, which nominated a man with a Nazi tattoo as its Senate candidate on the grounds that he was the available option, is now managing a rape allegation as well, which is the kind of additional context that tends to change the calculation about what “available” means.
McCarthy told Fox News: “One thing I know about Republicans is when we had a very bad candidate, we didn’t vote for that person. We walked away.” Social media users responded by listing, at some length, the bad candidates Republicans did vote for, a project that Raw Story notes produced “a tsunami of outrage” given that the list includes multiple Republicans accused of misconduct toward minors who received significant party support. McCarthy did not address these examples. His victory lap continued at speed.
Platner is running against Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who has held her Senate seat since 1997, voted for the Iran war powers resolution, and does not have a Nazi tattoo or a rape allegation on her record, a distinction that was already notable and has become considerably more so.
When the path to flipping a Senate seat requires defending a candidate with a Nazi tattoo and a rape allegation while the opposition takes a victory lap on Fox News, who exactly is winning the Senate race?
Sources
Fox News: Graham Platner accuser Jenny Racicot says he ‘absolutely’ raped her
