Graham Platner denied a second allegation of sexual assault in as many days following a Washington Post article that quoted an ex-girlfriend who accused the now 41-year-old Democratic Senate nominee in Maine of having removed protection without her consent during several sexual encounters in Washington, D.C., between 2013 and 2015.
The report comes a day after Politico published a report from a different ex-girlfriend who said Platner forcibly had sex with her without her consent in 2021, also in Washington. She later told CNN that she considers what Platner did to be rape.
Platner’s campaign called the latest allegation “categorically false and politically motivated,” citing his ex-girlfriend’s support of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, the Post reported. Kavanagh was nominated by President Donald Trump during his first term, and was confirmed by the Senate in 2018 after he was accused of sexual assault.
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In a video posted Monday, Platner called the allegation in the Politico article “troubling, serious and false.” He also said in that video he would step back because he is “mindful of the political reality it will inflict.” Platner is running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a top Democratic target in midterm elections.
Platner’s campaign goes silent as two advisers speak up
Platner’s campaign recently paused all of its advertising on Facebook and Instagram, according to Andrew Arenge, who tracks online campaign ads, and is the Director of Operations for the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies.
The candidate has not posted a message on social media since his video denying Monday’s allegation, more than 25 hours ago. But a pair of top advisers did post messages on X denying a report in the New York Post citing an unnamed source who claimed Platner was being advised not to drop out of the race unless he could pick his own successor.
Platner, who easily won the Democratic primary on June 9, has until July 13 to decide whether to decline or accept the nomination, according to Maine election rules. If he bows out, the Democratic Party of Maine has until July 27 to name a successor.
The New York Post article said the campaign and his political consultant Morris Katz were “deliberating” not dropping out “unless he gets to approve his successor.”
“To be very clear,” Katz wrote on X, “no one in campaign deliberations or familiar with my thinking is talking to the NYP,” referring to the New York-based tabloid that AllSides rated as having right-leaning coverage, and, according to Media Bias / FactCheck, “mixed” factual reporting.
Later, Rebecca Katz, another consultant unrelated to Morris, responded to the New York Post article with a three-word statement on X: “This is false.” Katz did not respond to messages Tuesday evening seeking comment.
