UPDATE
Jul 10, 2026 5:00 PM CDT
Graham Platner officially dropped out of Maine's US Senate race on Friday, sending a letter to the state's division of elections saying that he's withdrawing. That clears the way for the state Democratic Party to pick a replacement nominee by the July 27 deadline, NBC News reports. More than 156,000 people voted for him seeking "a new kind of politics," Platner's letter said. "My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine." There had been nervousness among Democrats that he would delay or change his mind and not formally drop out in time.
Jul 8, 2026 5:15 PM CDT
Under pressure from his state party and Washington Democrats, Graham Platner ended his campaign for the US Senate on Wednesday night. "We believe for the movement to continue, it can't be me and for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations," Platner said, the Washington Post reports. The 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran had seen his support collapse since a former girlfriend accused him Monday of sexual assault; another ex later alleged he removed protection during sex without consent, a claim his campaign called "categorically false and politically motivated."
Democrats said Platner's hesitation was freezing their effort to unseat five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins in a race key to their uphill fight for Senate control. The state party released a sharply worded video Tuesday insisting Platner step aside by Monday so a replacement can be chosen, and rejecting any effort by his team to shape that process. The party has until July 27 to select a replacement; Maine Democrats voted Wednesday to hold a nominating convention for that purpose. National Democrats had warned they wouldn't spend in Maine if he stayed in the race. While some of Platner's populist backers wanted any successor to mirror his politics, others who stuck with him through months of controversies reached the end.
Platner made the announcement in a video message that came across as an angry denunciation of the situation he's in, per the New York Times. He did not apologize to his accusers; in fact, he repeated his denial of Jenny Racicot's accusation that he raped her. Nor did he apologize to his supporters, insisting instead that the Senate nomination was being taken from him by establishment and media forces and that after the political system drafted him for the race, it treated him unfairly. "People in DC need to stay in DC," Platner said in the 11-minute video posted on social media, per the AP. "Decisions should not be made by people in places of political power."
This file has been updated with Platner's announcement.
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