The new rape allegation made against Graham Platner by a former girlfriend on Monday place his Democratic supporters in an extremely difficult position. They must now choose between staying the course and defending Platner, despite their past condemnations of sexual abuse, or maintaining their integrity and rejecting Platner.
Platner has drawn vocal support from many of the most radical voices on the left, both in Maine and across the country. The new allegations against Platner are sure to impact not only his own campaign, but also other Democrats who have endorsed him despite claiming to champion sexual abuse victims.
Nationally, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), have been among his strongest supporters.
Sen. Warren, who gave a ringing endorsement of Platner, calling him “my kind of man,” was a staunch supporter of the “Me Too” movement and has repeatedly spoken on issues surrounding sexual assault.
In 2017, Warren shared a personal story from when she was a “baby law professor” and allegedly faced sexual aggression from a senior faculty member. She said that she had only told her best friend at the time and did not publicly discuss the alleged assault until the Me Too movement, spurred on by allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.
She also spoke against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the grounds that the sexual assault allegations made against him should be believed.
“Now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle saw the same hearing. They watched Dr. Ford sit through hours of testimony. They heard her when she said clearly and unequivocally that she was 100% sure Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her. And they watched Judge Kavanaugh demonstrate to the world that he lacks the temperament and the truthfulness to sit on the nation’s highest court,” she said in 2018.
More recently, she claimed that sexual assaults reported by members of the military in 2023 should somehow disqualify Pete Hegseth from serving as Secretary of Defense.
“In 2023, over 29,000 active-duty troops were sexually assaulted, including more than 6 in every 100 women in the military. Many servicemembers never report these crimes. The rates of assault are estimated to be up to 4x higher. Pete Hegseth must not be the Defense Secretary,” she said in December 2024.
Vermont’s socialist Senator traveled to Maine in May to support Platner and lend credence to his progressive champion persona.
[RELATED: After Week of Controversy, Platner Joins Sanders and Jackson for Portland Rally…]
Sen. Sanders, like Warren, claimed to believe that the sexual assault allegations made against Justice Kavanaugh were credible, and argued that those allegations should have disqualified him from serving on the nation’s highest court.
“I am disappointed but not surprised by this vote. Unless I’m very mistaken, Kavanaugh will become part of a hard-right majority. I’m also deeply concerned that credible allegations of sexual assault were not fully investigated and the precedent that sets for the future,” said Sanders.
It will be a disaster for the Platner campaign if Sanders decides to apply the same reasoning to his Senate bid as he did to Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Rep. Khanna has also campaigned alongside Platner and has largely dismissed previous allegations against the candidate as a “dark chapter in his life” and called on voters to give him “grace.”
Khanna has tried to combat sexual assault, with a 2017 effort to reclassify the practice of stealthily removing a condom without a partner’s consent as rape.
“Of course, there are the more immediate things—the very egregious cases we read in the news about Weinstein and Franken with the picture of groping, the abuse that Moore has engaged in and the Trump groping allegations—those need to be condemned clearly, without equivocation,” he said during a 2017 Q and A about the effort.
More recently, he has worked with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to force the disclosure of the Epstein Files in an effort to expose and condemn sexual abusers.
Continued support for Platner could undermine his image as he considers a 2028 presidential bid.
The new allegations could impact Maine’s gubernatorial election, where Democratic nominee Hannah Pingree will now need to contend with having issued a ringing endorsement of an accused rapist.
“Graham Platner is the kind of leader we need in Washington to stand up to Donald Trump and fight for the health care and economic system Americans deserve. I am grateful for his support and encourage people to rank me, Shenna, and Troy if they want a Governor who will stand up and fight every day for Maine people,” said Pingree in May.
Despite her endorsement of Platner, Pingree has positioned herself as a champion of Maine women.
Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) has been one of Platner’s strongest supporters in the state legislature, and has consistently condemned any Democrats who don’t plan to vote for him.
“He did the hard work of healing, spent years working on it and then began serving his community as chair of his planning board, as Harbor Master, as a local advocate for veterans and in support of labor. But that’s not enough?,” said Rep. Geiger on Facebook.
“For the love of God and country, you don’t have to love him or like him, just hold your nose if you have to, but vote for him,” she added.
During her time as a legislator, Geiger has worked to help sexual assault victims through her efforts to establish a tracking system for rape forensic test kits, to help victims know the status of their tests amid a statewide backlog.
Geiger even sponsored a bill to remove the word “alleged” from statutes discussing victims of sexual assault in relation to forensic test kits.
Democrats nationwide and across Maine who have positioned themselves as the champions of sexual assault victims will now have to face the fallout of launching an accused rapist to national stardom and choosing him as their candidate for one of the most consequential national races in the country.
