Graham Platner quit his campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine on Friday. His exit came after a week in which a woman accused him of rape — an accusation Platner denies.

Platner announced he was leaving the race in a video posted online July 8. He officially filed the withdrawal paperwork two days later, on July 10 NPR.

Before making his announcement public, Platner had told his staff privately on July 9 that he planned to exit Axios. Democratic Party leaders had asked him to drop out on July 6 Reuters. A day later, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — Platner's biggest supporter in Congress — also called on him to leave the race Reuters.

In his withdrawal letter, Platner blamed the "political establishment" for forcing him out.

Platner had won Maine's Democratic primary in June with over 150,000 votes — more than any Democratic Senate candidate in the state's history. He ran on lowering costs, universal health care, and keeping corporate money out of politics. His campaign resembled Senator Sanders' approach and drew support from small-dollar donors across the country.

Maine's Democratic Party now has to find a new nominee to run against Republican Senator Susan Collins, who is seeking reelection. The party has until July 27 to pick someone. They will hold a special convention where about 600 party delegates will vote on who replaces Platner.

People who want to be considered must say so by July 15 and collect signatures from at least eight of Maine's 16 counties. Former state Senator Troy Jackson and Nirav Shah, who worked for the CDC, are already running to replace Platner.

Collins is a five-term incumbent in a state where voters increasingly support different parties in different races. The tight timeline leaves Democrats little time to build up the grassroots energy and fundraising that Platner had generated.

Platner's departure looks like something forced on him by party leaders rather than his own decision. When a party's leadership overrules the voters who chose someone in a primary, it can change how new candidates are seen by those same voters. That tension may affect how Maine's eventual Democratic nominee is received by the supporters who backed Platner in record numbers just weeks ago.