Brittany Bernstein writes for National Review Online about an important development in a critical US Senate race.
Graham Platner officially ended his Maine Senate campaign on Wednesday, just days after saying he was reflecting on the best path forward in response to new sexual assault allegations against him.
On Monday, Politico reported on allegations made by Platner’s former girlfriend that he “forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections.”
Platner shared a video statement on X Wednesday evening explaining his decision, and maintaining his innocence. He dismissed the allegation as “false” and said it “placed an immense amount of weight” on him. …
… Platner’s campaign has been plagued by scandals since October, when CNN and several other outlets uncovered Platner’s past Reddit posts and comments, which included offensive comments about police and sexual assault survivors. Later controversies centered on his Nazi tattoo, his marital infidelity, and his past treatment of women. …
… While the former oyster farmer joined the race to unseat incumbent Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, as a political outsider with focus on issues that appeal to a progressive, populist base, including affordability, universal health care, and labor union relations, it eventually became clear that Platner’s past made him a political liability for the Democratic Party.
Platner dropped out just days before a July 13 deadline for Democrats to begin the process to replace him. The party will now have until 5 p.m. July 27 to name their replacement candidate.
However, Democrats are not looking at a deep pool of qualified replacement candidates. At least one possible replacement candidate — former Maine Senator Troy Jackson — is facing his own allegations regarding the mistreatment of women. Other possible replacements include: Nirav Shah, who served for four years as the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a stint that overlapped with the Covid pandemic; and Shenna Bellows, Maine’s current secretary of state, who recently finished fourth in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
