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A woman who dated Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.

The woman, a 41-year-old Maine resident named Jenny Racicot, detailed the alleged incident to POLITICO in three interviews over the past two weeks. POLITICO also spoke with a man Racicot dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident, and reviewed documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.

Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner, who is now the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she said. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”

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[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 day ago

Nominating a new person is a loss. Platner got to where he is because he's an outsider and charismatic. Which is what wins elections. Subbing in someone who the party establishment chooses will be neither of those things.

We're stuck relying on that charisma and anti-establishment sentiment to blow through this. And if many other elections are anything to go by, it's got a good chance of doing so.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 22 hours ago

Subbing in someone who the party establishment chooses will be neither of those things.

Yeah. That trick has never worked. Most recently, it didn't work for VP Harris.

[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 day ago

You are asking Democratic voters to overlook a credible rape allegation, we are not Republicans. It’s not going to happen, Platner is not going to win after this.

I don’t know how the Maine DSC works, but it’s not a given they’ll shit out Mills depending how they work. In my state, delegates from each caucus would vote for it, and our delegates this year were HEAVILY left-leaning (a midwestern state).

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

we are not Republicans.

Seems to be a lot of folk arguing we should still support Platner in here.

[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Denial (cope?) stage. Give it a day or two, I hope

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago

Bill Clinton still gets a speaking slot at Democratic conventions.

[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago

That’s not a good comparison at all. People don’t vote for speakers at conventions, and Bill is very unpopular and would get decimated in any election right now even if he was 20 years younger

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

Source on Bill Clinton's unpopularity? Because him speaking is only ever a minor controversy with progressives and that's more because of his shitty third way policies that have caused a lot of harm.

He's the 12th most popular Democrat in this YouGov poll, sandwiched between Mark Kelly and Pete Buttigieg.

this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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