Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand called on Graham Platner to "immediately withdraw" from Maine's US Senate race, in a joint statement issued after Politico published an on-the-record sexual assault allegation against him. The Guardian reported the statement as part of its live coverage on July 7, 2026, alongside similar calls from Maine's state Democratic party leadership.

The allegation came from Jenny Racicot, 41, a Maine resident who told Politico she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years. She said an intoxicated Platner entered her home uninvited in late 2021 and forced himself on her despite repeated objections. Politico's report, published July 6, cited corroborating accounts from a man Racicot had confided in, recent therapist emails, and 2023 messages in which she warned an acquaintance about Platner. Politico

Platner denied the allegation in a statement to Politico, calling it "troubling, serious, and false," and later posted a video on X repeating that language verbatim. He is an oyster farmer and former Marine who defeated David Costello in Maine's June 9 Democratic primary, positioning himself as the party's nominee against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. Ballotpedia

The Maine Democratic Party's statement went further than the single allegation reported by Politico, saying leadership had learned that "multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner" over recent weeks. Maine Democratic Party The party did not name additional accusers, but the framing signals that Racicot's account is not the only complaint under scrutiny inside the campaign apparatus.

Party defections followed quickly. Rep. Ro Khanna of California withdrew his endorsement, calling the allegations "very serious and credible," and Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona did the same. Politico Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who had backed Platner in March, said he should "step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race" — a formulation that separates the political question from the underlying legal and personal one without prejudging either.

Schumer and Gillibrand added a financial dimension to the pressure campaign: the DSCC will not invest in the Maine race as long as Platner remains on the ballot, according to a statement posted to X. That threat carries weight in a state where outside spending typically decides whether a Senate challenge to an incumbent like Collins is even competitive. Collins has weathered several high-spending challenges in the past decade; without national committee money behind him, Platner's path narrows considerably regardless of the allegations' ultimate disposition.

Platner's own public response has shifted since the story broke. Beyond the denial, he posted a statement saying he was "taking the time to reflect" on his candidacy — language that stops short of an announcement either way but that Democratic officials in Maine and Washington are treating as an opening to press their case. Politico

Anticipating that Platner might exit, the Maine Democratic Party issued a separate statement on July 7 addressing the mechanics of a potential nomination replacement process, should he suspend his campaign. Maine Democratic Party State parties generally have narrow windows and specific statutory procedures for replacing a nominee after a primary, and the timing matters: the later a withdrawal comes relative to ballot certification deadlines, the more constrained the party's options for finding a credible substitute before November.

The stakes for national Democrats go beyond one candidate. Maine sits among the handful of states the party views as central to retaking Senate control in the 2026 midterms, and a prolonged scandal risks diverting resources and attention from a race Democrats had hoped to make competitive against Collins. The speed and near-uniformity of the withdrawal calls — from the Senate leader's office down to individual House members who had endorsed him — suggests a party leadership calculating that the reputational cost of standing behind Platner exceeds whatever value his primary win delivered.

What happens next depends largely on choices Platner has not yet made public. He has not announced a withdrawal, and no criminal charges have been reported in connection with Racicot's allegation as of this writing. The Maine Democratic Party's acknowledgment of additional, unnamed accusers leaves open the possibility that further public accounts could emerge, which would likely accelerate pressure regardless of how Platner responds to Racicot's specific claims.