New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has added his voice to the chorus of Democrats calling on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out of the race, telling a reporter this week that "it's time for him to drop out of the race." The comment, circulating in a clip posted to social media, comes as Platner faces the most serious crisis yet in a campaign already marked by repeated controversy.
Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine veteran who entered politics as a first time candidate, won Maine's Democratic Senate primary in June with nearly 72 percent of the vote, positioning him to challenge five term Republican incumbent Susan Collins in a race both parties consider central to control of the Senate. But on Monday, Politico published an account from Jenny Racicot, 41, a Maine woman who says she dated Platner on and off for more than two years. Racicot told the outlet that Platner arrived at her home uninvited and intoxicated in late 2021 and forced her to have sex despite her repeated objections. Politico said it reviewed emails between Racicot and her therapist referencing the alleged assault and spoke with others in whom she had confided.
Platner has firmly denied the allegation, calling it "categorically false" and saying in a video statement that "any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue." His campaign said the timing of the story, a week before Maine's July 13 candidate withdrawal deadline, echoed what it called a pattern of unsubstantiated attacks arriving just before key electoral moments. He said his team was nonetheless taking time to "reflect on the best path forward."
The allegation triggered an immediate and sweeping withdrawal of support from senior Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued a joint statement calling the allegations "incredibly disturbing" and demanding Platner "immediately withdraw" as the party's nominee, adding that the DSCC would not invest in the race if he remained on the ballot.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said the best path forward was for Platner to step aside and address the allegations outside the campaign. Representative Ro Khanna, who had campaigned alongside Platner in Maine as recently as this spring, said sexual assault was "a red line" and rescinded his endorsement, as did Senator Ruben Gallego. The Maine Democratic Party and the Democratic leaders of the state legislature also called on him to withdraw, with party officials saying multiple women had by now made serious allegations against him.
This is not the first controversy to shadow Platner's rapid rise. In June, the New York Times published accounts from three women describing past relationships with him as unsettling, and earlier reporting surfaced deleted Reddit posts and questions over a chest tattoo some likened to Nazi imagery, which Platner apologized for and said he later had covered up. Despite the string of controversies, he had continued to lead in early polling against Collins, though that lead has reportedly narrowed in recent surveys.
Under Maine election law, Platner would need to withdraw by July 13 for the state Democratic committee to select a replacement nominee before a July 27 deadline. As of Tuesday, Platner had not announced a decision, and his campaign indicated he intended to remain in the race for now.
The pressure on him to exit, however, continues to mount from within his own party, with Mamdani's remark reflecting how far that pressure has spread beyond Maine and Washington into the wider Democratic coalition.
