{"id":1070,"date":"2026-07-07T04:54:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2026-07-07T04:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:54:05","slug":"dem-lawmakers-jump-ship-on-graham-platner-amid-new-bombshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1070","title":{"rendered":"Dem Lawmakers Jump Ship on Graham Platner Amid New Bombshell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<div id=\"attachment_5727492\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5727492\" class=\"wp-image-5727492 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Graham Platner\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5727492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melanie Stetson Freeman\/The Christian Science Monitor via AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Within hours of new allegations emerging against Maine Democratic Senate candidate<strong> Graham Platner<\/strong>, Democrats began throwing him under the bus and revoking their endorsements.<\/p>\n<p>A bombshell report in Politico on Monday detailed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/breaking-graham-platner-accused-of-sexual-assault-in-explosive-politico-report\/\">accusations<\/a> from<strong> Jenny Racicot<\/strong>, a 41-year-old Maine resident who said she had an on-again, off-again relationship with Platner for more than two years, until he assaulted her. The report details her experience:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>He entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In a video address, Platner vehemently denied the allegations but announced he would be hitting pause on his Senate campaign to \u201creflect on the best path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep.\u00a0<strong>Ro Khanna<\/strong> (D-CA) was among the first Democratic lawmakers to pull their endorsements of Platner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,\u201d Khanna <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RoKhanna\/status\/2074242263710917062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2074242263710917062%7Ctwgr%5Ec647ab30875655b8f6c2aa9e687000656f54088f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D5740284action%3Dedit\">wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cThese allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In January, MS Now anchor <strong>Elise Jordan\u00a0<\/strong>pressed Khanna on what it would take for him to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/when-is-it-enough-ms-now-host-presses-dem-lawmaker-on-support-for-scandal-plagued-graham-platner\/\">withdraw<\/a> his support of scandal-riddled Platner, to which Khanna responded, \u201cIf there was some credible accusation or allegation of sexual assault, domestic violence, or rape, I would withdraw my endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen.\u00a0<strong>Ruben Gallego<\/strong> (D-AZ), who is under federal investigation for alleged campaign finance violations, also <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RubenGallego\">announced<\/a>, \u201cI am rescinding my endorsement,\u201d calling the allegations \u201ctroubling and deeply serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gallego previously defended Platner amid May reports\u00a0that Platner, who is married, had sent sexually explicit texts to women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmericans are really, really hurt by the fact that gas is still high. Food is still high. They can\u2019t buy a home. You can\u2019t afford rent,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/maine-graham-platner-democratic-senators-controversy-rcna348043\">told<\/a>\u00a0the press. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen.\u00a0<strong>Martin Heinrich<\/strong> (D-NM), who also endorsed Platner, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/politics\/articles\/maine-senate-candidate-graham-platner-212429205.html\">told reporters<\/a>, \u201cThese are very serious allegations and they should be treated as such.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melanie Stetson Freeman\/The Christian Science Monitor via AP Within hours of new allegations emerging against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, Democrats began throwing him under the bus and revoking their endorsements. A bombshell report in Politico on Monday detailed accusations from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who said she had an on-again, off-again&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26090610316107-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}