There are campaigns that end because the candidate lost, and there are campaigns that end because the candidate accumulated a Nazi tattoo, a sexting scandal, a rape allegation from one woman, a second allegation involving the removal of a condom from another woman, the withdrawal of endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, a top ally calling it “a red line,” and a Kalshi prediction market giving him a 94 percent probability of dropping out, and Graham Platner’s Maine Senate campaign is the second kind.
Platner announced his withdrawal from the race, per Fox News, ahead of the July 13 deadline by which a replacement candidate could be placed on the November ballot against Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who has held her Senate seat since 1997. He was, until Monday, a progressive oysterman from Maine who had won the Democratic primary in June. He now has approximately 72 hours of documented scandal on his record, which is an unusual amount for a man who has not yet had a first day in office.
The sequence: Platner has an SS tattoo, which he described as a mistake. He sent sexually explicit messages to women who were not his wife, which his campaign described as a private matter. Jenny Racicot told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that Platner “absolutely” raped her in 2021, which Platner denied. Within 24 hours, a second woman, Lyndsey Fifield, told The Washington Post that Platner removed condoms during sex without her consent, saying: “He would pull condoms off. He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.” The Platner campaign described Fifield’s allegations as “categorically false and politically motivated,” which is also what the campaign said about Racicot’s allegation, making it the campaign’s universal description of its accusers.
Elizabeth Warren withdrew her endorsement Monday night. Bernie Sanders withdrew his endorsement. Sanders wrote: “Now more than ever we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values. There can be no tolerance for sexual assault.” Sanders had previously called on Platner to drop out over the first allegation, which was already more than most candidates survive, and then issued a second statement after the second allegation, which made it his second statement about a candidate he endorsed who is now no longer in the race.
Jonathan Turley appeared on Fox News and “slammed the ‘unserious’ Democratic vetting process,” per Fox News, which is accurate as a description of a vetting process that produced Platner and is somewhat ironic coming from a network that has spent two years defending candidates whose records contain various other documented issues, but which is also simply correct.
Maine Democrats now have until July 13 to select a replacement. Collins is watching. She has been watching for 29 years.
When the party’s vetting process produces a candidate with a Nazi tattoo, a sexting scandal, and two sex allegations who drops out 35 days after winning the primary, what exactly was being vetted?
Sources
Fox News: Graham Platner hit with second sex allegation as deadline looms
