Graham Platner, Senate candidate in Maine, is rapidly losing support as the state and national party are jumping ship following credible accusations of sexual assault came on Monday.
Jenny Racicot, 41, of Maine said that Platner — whom she said she had casually dated on and off from 2019 to 2021 — entered her home one night late in 2021, uninvited and deeply intoxicated, and forced her to have sex despite her telling him to stop, according to the news outlet.
The response:
What’s next?
The leaders of the Maine Democratic Party — not national officials — are taking the lead on structuring the process for selecting a new nominee, as Maine officials are discussing a pop-up convention or holding a statewide caucus to effectively redo the party’s primary election
Activists, officials and potential candidates have begun lobbying for replacements.
Several candidates are being mentioned as early possibilities, including Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state; Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate; Nirav Shah, a former director of Maine’s public health agency; and Jordan Wood, who lost a primary for a House district in northern Maine.