Former Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner is set to make his first public appearance since suspending his scandal-plagued campaign in June.
Platner is slated to speak about the history of unions and organized labor at a Labor Day rally on Sept. 5, according to the Hancock County Democratic Party, marking his first public event since ending his campaign.
On June 9, Platner won the Maine Democratic Senate nomination in a landslide, securing endorsements from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), among others. Many of those lawmakers later rescinded their support.
Less than a month later, Politico reported that a former girlfriend had accused Platner of rape, allegations he has denied. Platner suspended his campaign days later.
“I just want to make it clear, this is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It’s not real,” he said, later adding, “This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot, and that’s why this is occurring.”
The sexual assault allegation was not the only controversy to affect Platner’s candidacy. His campaign was also hit by revelations about sexually explicit messages to women, controversial social media posts, and a tattoo resembling Nazi imagery that Platner said he received nearly two decades ago during a drunken spree without understanding its meaning.
Three other former girlfriends also accused him of unsettling and violent behavior. Former girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield disputed Platner’s account of the tattoo, saying he knew its meaning and would “joke about it being a Nazi tattoo” and “call it my Totenkopf.”
The controversies put pressure on Democrats, who are hoping to flip the state’s Senate seat as part of efforts to reclaim the chamber’s majority. Despite the scandals, Platner had been polling ahead of longtime incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), fueling Democratic hopes of defeating the Republican.
Last month, Maine Democrats selected fifth-generation logger Troy Jackson to replace Platner as their nominee, giving him only a few months to build a campaign against Collins, who holds a significant fundraising advantage.
In an interview with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein released Friday, Platner’s chief strategist, Morris Katz, said the campaign should have suspended much earlier.
“In hindsight, knowing what we know now, the Reddit posts alone probably should have been enough — or should have been enough,” Katz said on The Ezra Klein Show. “The tattoo should have been enough. The initial New York Times story on troubling behavior should have been enough.”