U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner's campaign is hanging by a thread following a rape allegation from a woman he previously dated, leading his political allies to call for his exit from the race.
The allegations against Platner are just the latest scandal to rock his campaign, which has been riddled with controversy since October. From sporting a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest to being accused by ex-girlfriends of being physically abusive, Platner's campaign has survived, with many of his supporters doubling down in support.
However, the latest allegations of rape have proven to be a breaking point, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., all pulling their support for Platner. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who endorsed Platner just 11 days after he launched his campaign and has stood by him through every major controversy, also called on Platner to end his candidacy.
The allegations surfaced less than a week before the deadline for Platner to withdraw from the race, after which the Democratic Party would be able to replace him with another nominee. Republicans have questioned why Democratic leadership took so long to revoke their support despite all the controversies surrounding him.
Platner's first major controversy erupted on Oct. 16, 2025, after CNN uncovered years of deleted Reddit posts he made between 2009 and 2021. The posts revealed the Democratic Senate candidate once described himself as a "communist," wrote that "all" police were bastards and argued that many rural White Americans "actually are" racist and unintelligent.
Other posts reflected how his combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan had reshaped his politics, with Platner writing that America's wars had left him disillusioned and "significantly more left" than when he enlisted. Days later, additional reporting drew scrutiny to other deleted posts, including one in which Platner appeared to downplay concerns about sexual assault.
Platner distanced himself from those posts, telling CNN that he was "f------ around the internet" and that he was struggling in his return to civilian life after serving overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. "I don't want people to see me for who I was in my worst Internet comment — or even, frankly, who I was in my best Internet comment," Platner said.
At the time the Reddit posts resurfaced, Sanders and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., stood by Platner. Gallego said Platner had "the right to grow out of his stupidity." There's a young man who served his country in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he went through some really difficult experiences seeing friends of his killed or whatever, and in spite of all of that he had the courage to run," Sanders said of Platner.
Platner faced another controversy after his campaign, seeking to get ahead of opposition research, and he released a video on Oct. 21 during an appearance on Pod Save America showing him dancing shirtless at his brother's wedding. The footage revealed a chest tattoo that critics said resembled the Nazi SS Totenkopf, or "Death's Head," symbol, prompting widespread condemnation and renewed questions about his judgment.
Platner said he got the tattoo while drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia in 2007 and believed it was simply a skull-and-crossbones design commemorating surviving combat. He said he was unaware of its association with Nazi Germany until the issue surfaced during his Senate campaign, apologized and initially pledged to have it removed before instead covering it with a Celtic knot tattoo.
The controversy intensified after subsequent reporting questioned Platner's claim that he had been unaware of the symbol's meaning, citing former acquaintances and past online activity suggesting he may have known its meaning years earlier, a claim Platner rejected.
In the aftermath, Sanders brushed off concerns over Platner's tattoo, arguing there were more important issues. "I'm not overly impressed by a squad of media running around saying, 'What do you think about the tattoo on Graham Platner's chest?'" Sanders told Axios.
Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, had privately informed senior campaign officials that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with other women during the early years of their marriage, raising concerns about the political fallout. Platner was using the app Kik to send messages and photos to women.
Former campaign political director Genevieve McDonald said Gertner told her that her husband had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women, while another campaign official said the number was lower and that the conduct had ended before the campaign launched.
The issue surfaced during an internal vetting process ahead of a high-profile Labor Day rally with Sanders. The discovery prompted outcry from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who called Platner a "creeper." However, Sanders and Schumer doubled down on their support for Platner, saying they believed he could defeat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Days about sexually explicit messages surfaced, The New York Times published interviews on June 4, 2026, with six of Platner's former romantic partners, offering sharply different accounts of their relationships with the Democratic Senate candidate.
Three women described him as kind, supportive and someone who never made them feel unsafe, but three others painted a far more troubling picture, alleging volatile relationships marked by heavy drinking, infidelity and behavior they found emotionally damaging.
Former girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield said Platner sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks and, during one argument, twisted her arm behind her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she "calmed down." Platner denied allegations of physical intimidation, and the Times wrote that it could not corroborate her allegations.
Fifield took fire at The New York Times for not adequately verifying her story. She claimed that she gave the reporters five phone numbers, but the Times only reached out to two people.
Racicot was also interviewed by the Times, and she alluded to the alleged sexual assault that she said occurred in 2021. Racicot said it was the attacks on Fifield that compelled her to step forward and tell Politico the full story of her sexual assault by Graham.
When asked about the allegations against Platner, Sanders said at the National Press Club on June 8 that it's a "political smokescreen." Republican super PACs want to defeat him," Sanders said of Platner. "He is going to be a strong voice against oligarchy."
Platner has now lost the support of Democratic Party leaders, who continued to back him despite controversies over his Reddit posts, a sexting scandal and allegations from former partners. But the latest allegation of rape proved to be a breaking point.
Platner said on Monday that his campaign is "taking the time to reflect on the best path forward." Fox News Digital reached out to Platner's campaign for further comment.
