BREAKING: Democrat Senate Candidate Graham Platner DROPS OUT Of Race After Being Accused Of Rape

He finally did it.

After over a week of being pressured by Democrats to drop out of the Maine Senate race Democrat Senate nominee Graham Platner has ended his campaign.

Graham who was set to face-off against Republican Senator Susan Collins in what was expected to be a tight race, ended his campaign after being accused of raping his former girlfriend in 2021.

Watch him make the announcement here:

My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. pic.twitter.com/RKVyLU76tm

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 9, 2026

NBC News provided further details on the move by Platner to drop out:

Graham Platner announced Wednesday he’s ending his Senate campaign, capping a chaotic few days of uncertainty and Democratic infighting and leaving the party without a candidate in the vitally important Maine race this fall.

The announcement by the populist progressive came after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault in 2021, causing his support to hemorrhage even among top Democratic allies, who rescinded their endorsements and called on him to drop out.

In a video message posted on X, Platner denied the allegation as “false” but said it has “placed an immense amount of weight” on him as he only has until Monday to decide whether to continue his candidacy. He said if he continued, he’d lose his ability to fundraise, access voter data or run a campaign.

“What comes next needs to come from the people, needs to come from the people of Maine,” Platner said. “It needs to be open, transparent and democratic. It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement.”

“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me. And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner continued. “We’re not doing it because of the allegations, we’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”

Here’s the woman who accused Platner of rape:

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday Jenny Racicot said that Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, entered her home without permission and raped her when they were in a casual dating relationship. Racicot said the incident happened… pic.twitter.com/Gf2mWtDVBT

— CNN (@CNN) July 6, 2026

The New York Times shared a list of possible Democrat candidates that might replace Platner:

Democrats in Maine and nationally are racing to find a new Senate nominee in the state’s crucial race after Graham Platner suspended his bid on Wednesday night in the wake of a rape allegation that prompted his most prominent backers to abandon him.

Democrats will need to act quickly: Maine state law gives the party just over two weeks to identify a replacement by July 27. On Wednesday night, the party announced that a replacement would be chosen in a nominating convention, but did not give further details.

Choosing a new candidate will be politically thorny, with moderates and progressives jockeying for influence over who is selected. Democrats will also be newly wary about vetting after their tumultuous experience with Mr. Platner. The new nominee will have to ramp up quickly and raise money fast to take on Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who has long dashed Democrats’ hopes of taking her seat.

Here are some of the potential candidates:

Troy Jackson, a progressive who served as the president of Maine’s State Senate from 2018 to 2024, is seen as aligned with Mr. Platner’s politics. Mr. Platner himself listed Mr. Jackson as his top pick for governor before the Democratic primary in June, in which Mr. Jackson came in third place. He is a logger from rural Aroostook County in northern Maine, and his father was a logger, too. By Tuesday, he had formed an exploratory committee to signal his interest in running for Senate.

A Democrat who campaigned as an outsider, Dr. Nirav Shah moved to Maine from the Midwest in 2019 to serve as Gov. Janet Mills’s health director. He led the state’s coronavirus response before becoming the principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023 and most recently working as a professor at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He ran for governor and led by three percentage points in the first round of the primary, but lost to the more progressive Hannah Pingree in the ranked-choice runoff. He said on Tuesday that he was considering entering the Senate race.

Shenna Bellows, elected as Maine’s secretary of state in 2020, broke into the national news in 2023 when she fought to bar Donald J. Trump from Maine’s presidential primary ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. A populist in Mr. Platner’s ideological mold, she often spoke on the campaign trail about her upbringing in a working-class family in rural Hancock County. She previously served as executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Maine and as a state senator, and even won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2014, but lost in a landslide to Ms. Collins. She said on Tuesday that she would “seriously consider” entering this year’s race.

Jordan Wood, a progressive who served as chief of staff to former Representative Katie Porter of California, came in third in this year’s competitive Democratic primary for Maine’s Second Congressional District. He ran on a promise to fight corruption in Washington, citing his work as a co-founder of a nonprofit group dedicated to opposing efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He briefly entered the Democratic primary for Senate in Maine before pivoting to the congressional race. On Tuesday, Mr. Wood said that he was in “conversations” about re-entering the Senate race.

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