The beleaguered campaign of Graham Platner has come to an end after a woman he dated formerly accused him of sexual assault.
Platner was seeking to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and help Democrats take back control of the U.S. Senate in the midterms before the bombshell report hit Monday.
‘We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.’
Platner said he was suspending the campaign in a post Wednesday evening.
“My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,” he said.
“What comes next needs to come from the people of Maine,” he said in the video.
“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” he added.
Platner denied the accusations from a woman who dated him nearly five years ago and documented her allegations in an extensive Politico report on Monday.
“Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in a statement about the accusations Monday.
Platner had also released a video calling the allegations “troubling, serious, and false” but admitted he was considering dropping out.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting,” he said, “and mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.”
On Wednesday, after numerous Democrats revoked their endorsements and called for him to step down, he made the fateful announcement.
Platner’s campaign was plagued from the beginning by numerous scandals, including a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest and accusations that he had sought romantic partners while married to his wife.
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The latest polling showed Platner slightly ahead of Collins by a slim margin of 2 percentage points, which was well within the margin of error.
He blamed some of his past behavior on mental health issues stemming from his time serving in the military during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
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