A well-placed Senate source told the Washington Reporter that Graham Platner — the Democrats’ scandal-plagued nominee running to oust Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) — is poised to drop out of the Senate race, giving Democrats time to choose a replacement before a critical deadline that is fast approaching.
The Reporter was the first outlet to confirm Platner’s plans, and reported them hours before the latest scandal dropped; “a well-placed source told us that Graham Platner is dropping out of the Maine Senate race this week,” the Reporter tweeted. “Note that Platner has yet to release his Q2 fundraising totals, a sign he may have underperformed expectations.”
High-ranking Republicans immediately confirmed to the Reporter that the latest Platner scandal was being pushed by Democrats, with the July 13 withdrawal for replacement deadline looming large.
Following the Reporter’s coverage, Politico broke another Platner sexual assault scandal story. “A woman who dated Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections,” Politico’s Jessica Piper and Adam Wren reported. “‘I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,’ she said. ‘I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”
Platner himself is already signaling that he will end his campaign shortly, but high-ranking sources told the Reporter that him dropping out is a fait accompli; in a video responding to Politico’s story, a solitary Platner said that he is “taking time to reflect on the best path forward,” which insiders reiterated to the Reporter is the same thing as him dropping out.
Throughout the Maine Senate race, the Reporter has broken multiple stories about Platner’s problematic past. In one instance, the Reporter covered in September 2025 that a pro-Hitler city council candidate posted a photo alongside Platner in which he wrote that he and Platner have “alot in common [sic].” This story was published weeks before revelations of Platner’s own Nazi tattoo become public.
Platner, who has the support of most Senate Democrats, has repeatedly reassured voters in Maine and his potential future colleagues in the Senate that there will be no more scandals regarding his past. There have been several scandals that emerged since he last made that promise.
