Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her (www.politico.com)

submitted 1 day ago by velma@sh.itjust.works to c/politics@lemmy.world

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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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[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 55 points 1 day ago

Well this seems a lot more believable than everything in the NYT story. I was all in on Platner and still have some skepticism of this just due to the sheer amount of political ratfuckery in this country, but yeah this probably could end his campaign unless some other evidence against it comes out fast.

The timing of this, seeing some random people on Threads/Twitter say another accusation against him is coming a few hours ago, articles about how to replace a candidate in Maine ready to go right away etc., is definitely really suspicious too. This whole thing fucking sucks dude.

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 day ago

End his campaign and then what? Why would anyone, with the state the county is in, want Susan Collins to continue to provide a fascist vote?

[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 22 points 1 day ago

Platner just isn’t going to win after this unless it’s roundly debunked. Would I still vote for him over Collins in November if I lived in Maine? Probably, but I wouldn’t be pumped about it at all anymore.

Best case scenario is he drops out and the Maine DSC nominates a new candidate who isn’t Mills.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago

unless it’s roundly debunked

Not possible.

And, honestly, if I were him, I'd cut a deal to just recoup costs and go home.

[-] 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 21 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).

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[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago

Yeah I really wanted to believe that Platner was better than he seemed.

I'm sad to have my expectations met :(

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 day ago

He was a "military history buff" who had no idea what a totenkopf was but miraculously had one on his chest for decades. And he joined fucking Blackwater as a merc. The only thing he had going for him was he said a few good things about health insurance. Oh, and he had no political history at all so there was no track record of him doing anything other than "being an oyster farmer" with his family money.

So many of us were pointing out he was an even shittier version of fetterman (who also had massive red flags everyone chose to ignore). None of this is a surprise.

[-] AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

People supported Platner despite his red flags because he's an outsider. Which as you already pointed out, it's exactly how Fetterman got in. There are plenty of candidates who got in who lived a regular life. Plenty of people don't have pasts as sordid as this guy. I can't imagine running at all knowing he has so many skeletons.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What is especially frustrating is that one of the other people in the primary basically had a very similar platform AND was also a military vet. But she was a she so of course the podcast bros didn't care.

I get that this is maine so "drain the swamp" probably WAS a smart play but... holy fuck there were so many red flags.

And he had a LOT of support from establishment Democrats since at least January of this year. Which is another thing he and other "outsiders" have in common, I guess.

[-] iluvlamp37@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

No real winning outcome on this. A guy with a credible SA allegation doesn’t deserve to be a Senator, we don’t deserve another term of Susan Collins or a Republican majority in Congress. I just don’t think a replacement for Platner is beating Collins

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

He should have never been chosen to run against Collins. Everyone looked past the Nazi tattoo, the sexist and racist comments, and the other sexual assault allegations and now here we are.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago

So, off the top of my head:

Did a tour at Abu Ghraib (yes, THAT Abu Ghraib), decided that wasn't enough, and signed up to Blackwater
Brags about how he ignored the rules to fire grenades into civilian centers
Had a fucking totenkopf (see: Are We The Baddies?) on his chest for decades
Replaced it with a REALLY sketchy "celtic" tattoo
Fucking rapist

What next will the evil opposition make up about this wonderful and heroic leftist?

[-] Asafum@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

I love living in America where our choices always seem to be this fucking guy or this fucking guy plus corruption and corporate boot licking.... It's so fucking wonderful that out of 400 million fucking people, these are the people we end up with...

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[-] LuceVendemiaire@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago

Wonder what all of the people calling us purity-testing republican plants for seeing the blatant signs he was a piece of shit have to say now

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

They're going to ask why this woman is coming forward now and cast doubt on her claims.

They're already doing it in this thread.

[-] JollyG@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

And elsewhere

[-] LuceVendemiaire@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 22 hours ago

my decision to use the block and report buttons at the drop of a coin keeps paying dividends.

Ever since all the KHive and facebook moma moved in bluesky has been unlivable

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

Oh yeah, we're going to see a lot of Dems and leftists doing the thing they swear only Republicans do.

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[-] ghostpony@infosec.pub 13 points 1 day ago

Sigh. Is it really this difficult to find a decent person in Maine to run for office as a Democrat? Jesus fucking Christ.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago

I mean... you know that SNL joke about "This is the part of New York that still flies the confederate flag"? Maine is basically an entire state of Upstate New York.

Some of the candidates in the primary actually did seem a lot better. But... rich white blackwater rapist is gonna be hard to beat. Wouldn't be overly shocked if they decide to stay in with a mix of "fake news" and "she was dressed like a slut".

[-] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Being a leftist is a lot like pointing to a dead canary in a coal mine and having everyone around you say 'well that could mean anything!' but it turns out it was the most probable thing the whole time. It also means saying 'man I would have loved to be wrong' a whole hell of a lot.

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 8 points 1 day ago

Welp, I guess we'll be getting a fascist then.

[-] Bronzor@lemmy.ml 2 points 22 hours ago

As if the choices weren't between two fascists....

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 day ago

The dude had Nazi tattoos. We were going to get a fascists already.

Maybe now we actually won't.

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago

It's just that difficult to find someone who hasn't raped people before apparently.

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[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

Now we know why Platner postponed a bunch of events this week.

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this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026

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