Woman alleges Graham Platner raped her in 2021 while they were dating, which he denies

By Allison Gordon, Jake Tapper, CNN

(CNN) — A woman said Monday that Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, entered her home without permission and raped her while he was heavily intoxicated nearly five years ago when they were in a casual dating relationship – an allegation Platner denies.

The alleged assault was first reported by Politico.

In an interview with CNN, Jenny Racicot, 41, said the attack occurred in the Maine town where she lived in 2021, two years after she and Platner began casually dating. The interview will be broadcast on The Lead with Jake Tapper.

Racicot said one night in November or December 2021, Platner showed up drunk at her house after she asked him not to come and then forcibly had sex with her despite her repeated demands that he stop – at one point knocking over a sewing cabinet, which inadvertently left a needle stuck in her leg. When she confronted him the next morning, he said he did not remember what had happened, Racicot said.

Racicot said she did not report the incident to authorities at the time, and she broke off contact with him soon afterward. Asked if she now considered the incident a rape, Racicot said, “By definition yes, absolutely yes.”

She said she did not have a political motive to come forward with her story. She said she is a registered Democratic voter who supports many of Platner’s views.

“I really agree with his politics. I think we need someone with those political stances,” she said, adding that her shared political views were one reason she didn’t come forward sooner.

“I’m just here to tell my story to give a clearer picture of who he is and the type of past he has,” she added. “I just think it’s fair to the democratic process to let people know who they are voting for.”

Platner’s campaign denied the allegations in a statement. “These allegations are very serious and Graham vigorously denies them,” the campaign said.

Platner also posted a video on X to deny the allegations. He also said in the video that he would take time to “reflect” on how to proceed with his campaign.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said.

CNN spoke with two people who said Racicot had described the sexual assault to them, although she did not name Platner to either person at the time. One person told CNN that she simply referred to him as “the oysterman.”

Last month, Racicot spoke to the New York Times in more general terms about the incident with Platner, describing what she called “reckless” and “unsettling” behavior by him while he was drunk.

Racicot said at the time she described the full details of the incident to the Times on background but was not prepared to have her name associated with the assault in public by going on the record with the allegations.

Racicot said she changed her mind about publicly airing the allegation after connecting with Cheyenne Hunt, a Democratic social media influencer and lawyer who has helped surface allegations of sexual assault against lawmakers and candidates, including former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.

Racicot said Hunt provided a support network for sexual assault survivors that made her comfortable with publicly sharing her story.

“I’m getting the support now that I needed all along,” Racicot said.

Hunt, who heads a women’s rights advocacy group called Reckoning Action, told CNN that she is not being paid by any campaigns and is motivated only by a desire to hold predatory men to account. Hunt withdrew a previous endorsement of Platner after the Times story last month and was connected with Racicot soon afterward to offer her support.

“We are doing this because we’re committed to there being no predators in power,” she said. “And we need to ensure that the state of Maine has a chance to elect somebody who is a strong enough candidate to beat Susan Collins and who does not have a record of misogyny and violence against women.”

Platner’s campaign alluded to Hunt’s involvement to allege that Racicot’s allegations were politically motivated. The campaign alleged that the claims were “coached and coordinated by out of state establishment operatives.”

“For a year, opponents of this campaign have thrown everything they can at Graham – calling him a Nazi, a war criminal, and a communist. None of it has been true and this is no different,” the statement said. “It is not a coincidence that this story comes a week before the ballot deadline, just as the previous false allegations came a week before the primary. Graham began this campaign to fight for a Maine where everyone is treated with dignity and where Mainers are put first, and no amount of desperate smears will stop this movement from seeing that vision through.”

Platner, a Marine Corps veteran who emerged from the primary with support from Sen. Bernie Sanders and the party’s left wing, is a key candidate for Democrats trying to retake the Senate this fall. Last month, six women interviewed by the Times described concerning behavior by Platner, including excessive drinking, infidelity, and, in one account, physical intimidation.

Platner said in response to the Times piece that he’s been “open about what was a very dark period of my life where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend.” He added that “any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated,” and specifically disputed the claim of physical intimidation.

Earlier in the campaign, Platner admitted to getting a tattoo with Nazi symbolism while in the Marines, saying he was unaware at the time of its meaning and has since had it covered.

Racicot said she and Platner had a casual relationship between 2019 and mid-2021. CNN confirmed their connection by reviewing a picture she had taken of Platner at the time, an email she sent to her therapist describing the relationship in 2019, and her comment in an “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook page from November 2024.

In the Facebook comment, she wrote that “we spent time together on and off, last time being 2.5 years ago, I would definitely not recommend on any level. He can hold an intelligent conversation, has some humor, even a little charm… but not relationship material.” She added that others could message her for more details.

One night in late 2021, Racicot was staying at another home in the nearby village of Marlboro and was texting with Platner when he said he was coming over. CNN was unable to review these messages because she has since deleted messages and blocked Platner.

She told him not to come to her house, saying she was too exhausted, she told CNN. She did not hear from him again and when she heard something at her front door soon after, she recalled, she was alarmed. Like many others in their town, Racicot did not keep her front door locked. When he entered her home, he immediately became physical and she could tell he was intoxicated.

“I looked at him and I remember this very specific look in his eyes. I could smell alcohol and I was like, ‘This is different. He is heavily intoxicated,’” she said. “That blank stare was like a photographic memory that I still have of that night.”

She told CNN she repeatedly tried to stop him, even batting his arms off her when he tried to grab her chest. Racicot said that somehow they ended up moving to her bedroom, though her memory is fuzzy of how that occurred. She said she urged Platner to stop because she was not on birth control but that he would not do so.

After the assault, she said, Platner fell asleep. Racicot said she considered waking him and ordering him to leave but she was also worried the intoxicated Platner would harm someone on the road. She weighed calling the police on him for drunk driving if he did leave, but since her town is too small for its own police force, she worried the state police or sheriff department would take too long to arrive.

She said that the next morning, Platner woke up still intoxicated and acted like nothing had happened.

“He woke up in the morning and went to go put his arm around me,” she said.

“I threw his arm back at him and said, ‘Are you f*****g serious, Graham?,” she said, recalling that she asked, “Do you not remember what happened last night?’”

Racicot told CNN that she waited until she knew she was not pregnant before confronting him via Instagram message and ending the relationship. CNN was unable to review this message as she blocked and unfollowed his account at the time.

CNN spoke with two people close to Racicot who she previously told about the incident. One, a then-boyfriend who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said that Racicot opened up to him about the assault when she had trouble with intimacy after about ten months of dating in 2023. It was clear that something had happened to her, he explained, adding that she told him a previous partner “didn’t take no for an answer” and had sex with her non-consensually.

“She didn’t say the word rape,” the then-boyfriend explained, rather describing the encounter to him as a sexual assault. “I think the only reason she didn’t use the word rape is because I think she felt weird because she was kind of dating [him]. If all that went down on a first date, I bet she would have called it rape,” he told CNN.

CNN reviewed a text thread from 2023 between Racicot and her then-boyfriend where he wrote “I know you were assaulted” in a message.

While Racicot did not use Platner’s name at the time, she told her then-boyfriend the assailant was Platner when he announced his Senate bid last year. When he expressed his appreciation for Platner’s policies as a candidate, he recalled, “She basically was like, ‘Well, I kind of do too, but just so you know – that’s the guy I told you about.’”

Another close friend told CNN that Racicot disclosed the rape to her last year in late August, around when Platner declared his run for Senate. She referred to a man she had dated as an “oysterman.” The friend told CNN that while she did not use the word “rape” it was clear that she was upset. The friend said that Racicot later confirmed “the oysterman” was Platner after she sent Racicot an Instagram post of his campaign ad. CNN reviewed this message.

CNN also reviewed messages from 2023 between Racicot and another woman in Maine who posted Platner on her social media. “I feel morally obligated to warn you if you were anything more than friends with Graham,” she wrote in a message reviewed by CNN. “He’s not all bad, but I ended up in a bad situation with him and I will just very politely call him consensually careless at times.”

When the other woman asked if “he forces himself on people?” Racicot replied “doesn’t listen when drunk…”

Racicot said ultimately she decided to come forward publicly with her allegations about Platner because she felt a moral obligation.

“There are a lot of men in this world relying on the silence of women to be where they are,” she said, “and I don’t want to contribute to that.”

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