(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-17th District, has called on Maine Democrat Graham Platner to end his campaign for U.S. Senate following an allegation of sexual assault.
“Mainers should have a choice for Senator who can stand up to corruption and corporate power-without being forced to ignore serious allegations of sexual assault,” Deluzio wrote on social media on Monday evening. “Graham Platner should end his campaign for the U.S. Senate.”
On Monday afternoon, Politico reported that 41-year-old Maine resident Jenny Racicot said Platner forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections. Platner denied the allegation. By Tuesday afternoon, Democratic lawmakers from across the nation had called on Platner to end his campaign, including over half of the Senate Democrats.
Regarding his status in the race, Platner released a video on social media Monday afternoon saying that he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love,” while denying the allegations.
Prior to Monday, Deluzio was the most prominent Pennsylvania lawmaker backing Platner’s candidacy. A PAC affiliated with the congressman also reportedly donated to Platner’s campaign in March.
“Proud to be supporting a fellow veteran and fighter for hardworking folks to send Susan Collins packing,” Deluzio wrote in an April 30 X post. “Let’s go win @grahamformaine“
Prior to Monday’s allegation, it appears that Deluzio’s most recent social media post about Platner came on May 28, when he took issue with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’s comments about the Iraq War.
Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer, cruised to earn the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge Collins earlier this year, despite a string of controversies since his entrance into the race in August.
The earliest backlash Platner received during the campaign came last fall when now-deleted Reddit posts were revealed in which he, as WGME reports, asked why Black people don’t tip, and another that suggested sexual assault victims should take responsibility.
WGME reports the next controversy was when a chest tattoo from Platner, which resembled Nazi SS Totenkopf symbol, became public. Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 while serving in the Marines, and claims he didn’t understand its symbolism and has since had it covered up.
The Wall Street Journal reported on May 30 about how his wife flagged sexually explicit texts she found between Platner and other women. Then, the New York Times published a story on June 4 headlined “Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall ‘Unsettling’ Behavior.”
Platner responded by denying that any physical abuse ever happened, WGME reports.
One of Platner’s fiercest critics throughout his campaign has been U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to Fox News on Monday night to respond to the latest allegations made against Platner.
“I don’t have anything to say to that trash bag,” Fetterman said. “He’s a dead man walking, politically, but now, for me, you know, my thoughts are with the poor women that have been brutalized by him, and I want to salute the courage for the woman to come forward.”
He then challenged those who dismissed the women in the New York Times report, or have supported Platner, to “look in the mirror,” claiming the majority path to the Senate is now “in serious risk.”
“Any normal person could have seen what was coming, the kind of person it is now,” Fetterman said. “He was the one Democrat that refused to not just call him out what he is.”
Prior to the latest allegation, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th District, also criticized Platner.
“I think it’s so distressing, all of the stories that are coming out, and they’re more and more, it seems, by the hour,” U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th District, said in an interview with CNN on June 5, one day after the New York Times story. “I’m not a voter in Maine, but he has disqualified himself in my eyes. He is not qualified to be a representative, a senator.”
“We’ll see what Maine does about it,” she continued. “And I know Governor Mills remains on the ballot, but he has disqualified himself.”
The Hill reports that July 13 is the deadline for Platner to withdraw from the race and have a replacement, citing the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.
