The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine is facing a new allegation of sexual assault just months before voters head to the polls, though he is flatly denying the claim.
Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine woman, told POLITICO that Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner forced her to have sex against her will during an encounter at her home in late 2021 after arriving uninvited and intoxicated.
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Racicot told the outlet. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”
Racicot said she and Platner had been in an on-and-off relationship for more than two years before the alleged incident. She said she repeatedly told him to stop during the encounter and later informed him that the sex had not been consensual before cutting off contact.
Platner categorically denied the accusation.
“These allegations are troubling, serious, and false,” Platner said in a statement. “Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.”
The allegation follows an earlier New York Times report in which Racicot described Platner’s behavior as “reckless” and “unsettling” but stopped short of publicly accusing him of sexual assault. She told POLITICO she withheld that allegation at the time because she did not want to be publicly identified as a rape victim.
Racicot said she ultimately decided to come forward after public attention shifted to another woman, Lyndsey Fifield, who previously accused Platner of mistreatment and later faced criticism over her ties to the Republican Party. Fifield told POLITICO she stands by the allegations she made to The New York Times but declined further comment.
The allegations have emerged as Platner campaigns to flip Maine’s Senate seat for Democrats. At this stage, no criminal charges have been announced in connection with Racicot’s allegation, and Platner continues to deny any wrongdoing.
This story is developing…
A woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her.
“I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person," she said of the Maine Dem, who has faced a string of scandals over past offensive online comments and…
— POLITICO (@politico) July 6, 2026
