A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.
Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.
Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.
Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.
Still, the allegation sparked a flight away from a candidate who has long been controversial. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who’d stood by Platner even as the insurgent candidate was hit with prior allegations, said Monday’s was enough. “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”
Edit: holy shit, these comments are insane.
Regardless of what you believe with this, Platner likely cannot win anymore. He has a week to do the right thing and drop out before he’s fully locked in. If he actually gives any sort of a shit (and doesn’t just want power, like rapists seeking office tend to), he needs to drop out yesterday.
This is the nail in the coffin for his campaign. It’s not time to defend him no matter what, because there’s still a week where a new candidate can be put into place. Instead of being mad at people not wanting to vote for him, you should start vocally supporting another candidate.
I thinking raping anyone is kinda bad, and that shouldn’t be contentious.
It should have come out after he dropped out of the race for having a literal racist antisemitic tattoo on him he definitely knew was a Nazi symbol sometime in the last 18 years. He has killed and he has raped people. Rape is serious but so is murder. He’s a literal murderer, and he bragged about it years later.
That’s kinda hindsight being 20:20 about the tattoo. Like, a tattoo is a warning sign, but it isn’t necessarily indicative of beliefs. I’ve seen the tattoo, and, like, I’m not gonna know it’s a Nazi tattoo, so I can forgive it. Go ahead and claim that’s the number one indicator if you want, but I think most people are gonna give wiggle room for redemption there.
Being a mercenary is a much bigger warning sign. I think pointing to that is a much better idea. That sort of shows lack of remorse and indicates a lot of bad decision-making on Platner’s part. Go all in on that! That’s hard to reconcile.
Being a murderer is–and bare with me for a second–not a big deal for most people. A lot of kids join the military because they were brainwashed and thought they were doing a good thing. Some realize their place in it and try to repent for their actions. If someone was murdered or did a war crime, there are pretty extenuating circumstances where I can see those being forgivable. There are reasons for murder that people let slide, like self defense. And I get drawing a line there. Truly, I do. But America grows its war criminals at home on purpose. I can see why people would let that slide.
But… There just aren’t any reasons where rape is justifiable. You can’t rape someone in self defense. You won’t be forgiven for being brainwashed into raping someone. It IS a step too far in most people’s eyes, and not only did he rape someone, he did not acknowledge it, he did not apologize, and he definitely fucking knew about it.
That’s my two cents about it. I think the mercenary background is really where the big warning sign is, because the kinds of people that become mercenaries are the kind that do not regret being a soldier and have an attitude of “boys will be boys”.
I wouldn’t be proud of this display of ignorance. If you’re active politically, you should know hate signs. This hate sign is the 3rd most recognizable Nazi symbol.
It’s not a coincidence that a Nazi rapist murderer has a Nazi tattoo.
Not everyone knows everything. To be afraid of being ignorant is silly. I’m not embarrassed about saying I don’t know something, and if you are, that says more about you than it does me. I will learn and know for next time.
Great reply. No notes.
Yeah, I also think it’s completely fair to criticize me for not knowing something. Seriously, if I don’t know something, feel free to let me know because how else am I gonna learn it if I don’t know?
Like, I don’t want it to sound like I’m making a joke, I’m not a genius, I can’t recognize every warning sign for what it is, I don’t know a whole lot about a whole lot, and a lot of my knowledge is learned by people telling me something, me researching a few things pretty casually, and me thinking about a few things. I’ve unlearned several things I thought was true, and I might even have to unlearn some of those when I find out that’s wrong. I don’t want you to think that’s a point of pride, I want the pride to be that I’m open to being wrong, and I’m going to defend what I think is right against what I think is wrong.
So, like, open season for you. Have at.
I agree. US military background in general is the red flag.
Rest of your take is weird. There’s no reason to compare the two especially because the man has done both. I don’t know why you would try to reduce a literal murder down to “well it’s not as bad as rape”. If you’ve killed somebody, I never want you near me. Plain and simple. I don’t care why, you’ve ended someone’s life. Same with a rapist, I don’t care if you’ve “changed”. You’re a dangerous person to be around.
Using that to say murdering foreign children is better is fucking gross dude. Delete this weird ass shit
If you murder someone in the defense of yourself or someone else, you’re still a murderer. Like, by definition, you murdered someone. We, as humans, typically excuse murder in these cases. That’s why self-defense is a legal and viable defense for murder. You are still a murderer for it, but it is excused because you did it out of some necessity. They ended someone’s life, but are they dangerous to be around?
That whole thing doesn’t exist for rape. That’s why it’s a worse crime and not excusable. That’s the point.
That’s why people are willing to excuse things like being a soldier or having a Nazi tattoo or even being a mercenary, but not raping someone.
You’re making this argument for someone that murdered fucking kids not in self defense and really annoying and gross. Please go away
I’m actually making this argument for the people supporting him, but I don’t think you’re reading my comments, or you would try harder.
Your comments are filled with bad takes and sniffing your own farts, they’re a chore for us to read.
I apologize for making you read them. I did not consider that you had feelings worthy of hurting, but next time, I will attempt to think of you. I know that when I type, you’re forced to read them, so just pretend that I’m typing Bill Pullman’s speech from Independence Day each time, and that might make things easier. If you are unable to do this, please retrieve a hammer or other blunt instrument and smash all of your phones and computers and other electronics in your local vicinity, and you will find that you can no longer read my comments.
Don’t be speaking for all of us.
I would definitely argue that it’s incredibly evil and kinda bad makes you kinda sound like an apologist.
Removed by mod
Dude what? You’re really trying to pull a concern troll on someone while saying rape is not that bad? What about when Trump does it, is it “kinda” bad? People like you are seriously sick
What you are doing is literally the definition of concern trolling.
The guy I’m replying to made it about raping “white women”, get the fuck outta here.
Lol you literally just pulled a “I hope you get better” 😂. You said it is “kinda bad.” It’s way beyond kinda bad brother. I’ve had people on here trying to tell me that rape is worse than murder. Like, no shit, I didn’t know I had to support either if they were democrats?
… Yes, I believe I must apologize for your misunderstanding. I had assumed the context would make it obvious per quod that I think rape is actually really fucking bad, and that the response was meant to point out that I don’t really think the race or gender of the person being raped particularly matters in that regard, but I can see that media literacy has taken one last breath this day.
You see, ol’ boy, there’s this thing in English that we do called irony, and I understand it’s a bit of an advanced maneuver, but, boy howdy, do I like it too much to quit. You’ll have to take a bit of a step on this, but trust that this was pretty fucking lathered up in it. Otherwise, please scour my comment history for where you think I think rape is A-okay, and we can have a discussion about it! Mmkay, pumpkin? Okay.
I hope that clears it up for you.
Damn, I just have to say I really appreciate your wit. Love coming across your comments.
I like to give a lot of benefit of the doubt, but sometimes, I mire in annoyance, and if I must style on someone (and my brain has informed me that I must), it should at least be someone who deserves it.
It’s not conducive to an argument, but it is conducive to my well-being, so if you appreciate it, all the better!
You can’t apologize for something you’re saying I did 😂 that’s some manipulative shit right there. Don’t ever pull that on your partner. Didn’t mean to make you so angry, just watch how you word stuff because these topics are serious, if you wanna be a bully & call me pumpkin you can go away 😂
You’re trying too hard, but the bait and switch on being called a bully while calling you pumpkin is quite good, that’s great trolling.
In sure you’ll end up in jail eventually with a milquetoast response like that to rape. Good luck with that.
Okay. Thank you for caring. I’ll send a request for bail money later.
Denied.
webadict has been a voice of reason in these comment threads. You’re attacking someone on your side.
Shit, welcome to lemmy where leftists that agree on 99 out of 100 things will wish death on each other for disagreeing on the 1. That’s been almost exclusively my experience here minus the tankies, that one pedo and the weirdo that thinks LLMs are sentient.
This comment made me spit out my food.
Maybe they should take rape a little more seriously?
Username does not check out
How original