Both Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Michigan are calling on their party’s nominee in Maine, Graham Platner, to drop his bid for the Senate after he was accused of rape.
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, called the allegations against Platner from a woman whom he’d dated in 2021 “extremely troubling and extremely unacceptable” after the claims became public Monday.
“There should be no room for this conduct in the U.S. Senate or any public office,” she posted on social media. “Graham Platner must step aside.”
Stevens rival Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, a former public health official and podcaster, posted a couple hours later a message that did not directly say Platner should quit but that “credible allegations of sexual assault cannot be ignored.”
“Voters in Maine deserve a choice for U.S. Senate that doesn’t force them to make a moral compromise between sexual violence or corporate servitude,” El-Sayed wrote.
His spokeswoman, Roxie Richner, confirmed Tuesday morning that El-Sayed believes that Platner should drop out of the Maine Senate race.
Stevens poked El-Sayed on X.com late Monday for not being clearer in his statement, referencing his claim last week that she can’t string two sentences together.
“Abdul, are you having trouble stringing these two sentences together? I believe women,” Stevens wrote while reposting his message. “Graham Platner should drop out.”
Other Democrats in Michigan’s delegation also have called on Platner to abandon his bid, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Holly and Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, withdrew her endorsement of Platner on Tuesday morning and called on him to exit the race “so that he can be replaced by a progressive fighter who will deliver for the people and help win back the Senate.”
The Michigan Democrats are far from alone in pressuring Platner to withdraw from the Maine race a month after winning the party’s nomination.
Leaders of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm and its affiliated super PAC — the most powerful engines of the party’s infrastructure — urged him to quit, as well as top party leaders in Maine and others who have supported his candidacy such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Platner on Monday said he was taking time to reflect on his campaign as he denied the allegations in a Politico story that he had forced a woman, Jenny Racicot, whom he had dated five years ago, to have sex with him over her objections.
“These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue,” Platner said in a statement.
Politico’s report said the woman detailed the allegation in three interviews and that it also interviewed a man she later dated and confided in about the incident, and reviewed documents including emails between the woman and her therapist and others.
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”
Platner is trying to oust longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the most closely watched races of the midterm elections.
Under state law, Democrats in Maine would only be able to replace Platner as a candidate on the ballot if he drops out in the next week, by a July 13 deadline.
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: El-Sayed joins Stevens in calling for Platner to end Maine Senate bid
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
