Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand urged Graham Platner to “immediately withdraw” from Maine’s Senate race on Monday, after the Democratic candidate faced an allegation of rape from a former girlfriend.
“The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing – violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable,” the two New York Democrats said in a statement issued by the DSCC.
Schumer and Gillibrand said Platner should step aside as the party’s Senate nominee and give Maine Democrats a chance to select another candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
They also cautioned that the DSCC, Senate Democrats’ main campaign and fundraising operation, “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”
The Maine contest is widely considered one of Democrats’ best chances to flip a Senate seat in the 2026 election cycle.
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Schumer and Gillibrand had initially endorsed Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary before she exited the race.
They later threw their support behind Platner after he met with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill last month, a visit that followed major reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal detailing suggestive text messages the former oyster farmer allegedly exchanged with at least six women.
The DSCC and Schumer continued backing Platner even after a subsequent New York Times report last month in which several of his former partners described alleged physical and emotional abuse during their relationships with him.
Most recently, Jenny Racicot, Platner’s ex-girlfriend, alleged in a Politico piece published Monday that the Maine Senate hopeful drunkenly broke into her home and raped her about five years ago.
Schumer and Gillibrand joined a growing list of Democrats calling on Platner to step aside in his race against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) amid the rape allegation.
The Maine Democratic Party, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calf.) and others have also demanded that Platner drop out.
Platner on Monday said the rape allegation was “false” but that he will take time “to reflect on the best path forward.”
