Graham Platner suspends campaign. For Democrats, the sexual assault allegation was too much

Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Maine Democrat whose U.S. Senate campaign became a national test of whether an insurgent progressive could survive repeated revelations about his past, said Wednesday night that he is suspending campaign operations and intends to withdraw from the race.Platner posted a more than 10-minute video to X at 8:10 p.m. Eastern, two days after POLITICO reported that a woman who dated him accused him of forcing her to have sex with him five years ago. Platner again denied the rape allegation, calling it “all false” and saying, “The things that have been claimed did not happen. It’s not real.”At times, Platner appeared to get emotional as he spoke directly to camera, repeatedly denying the allegation while saying the campaign could no longer function without the fundraising, voter data and institutional support needed to compete.“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me,” Platner said. “And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations.”Related: Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner admits using ‘indefensible’ antigay slurs in unearthed Reddit posts A fight over what comes nextRelated: Graham Platner welcomes attacks from 'fascists and bigots' over his support for trans rightsThe announcement marked a stunning collapse for a candidate who, two weeks earlier, spoke with The Advocate about his primary victory, his support for transgender rights, and the national transgender rights PAC endorsement that was supposed to help him consolidate LGBTQ+ support heading into November.In that June 24 interview, Platner framed his campaign as a movement-building project and said he welcomed attacks over his support for trans rights.“You can either be a coward about it, and you can play into their game, or you cannot be a coward, and you can understand that trans rights are human rights,” Platner told The Advocate. “Human rights cover absolutely everyone.”Now, Platner said he intends to file pap