U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination Tuesday in Blue Hill. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)

Editor’s note: Follow our Live Updates for the latest in the Senate race: Platner weighing options as leading Democrats withdraw support of Senate candidate

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Graham Platner is considering “the best path forward” in his campaign to unseat Sen. Susan Collins — the first sign from his campaign that he may drop out of the race.

Platner’s statement came shortly after Politico published a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2021. Platner denied the accusation on Monday but that didn’t keep the Maine Democratic Party and many high-profile supporters from pulling their support.

In a two-minute video posted online by his campaign, Platner hinted that his campaign might have reached a scandal it could not weather after months of unflattering disclosures about his past. It came a week before the deadline in Maine law for a candidate to relinquish their spot on the November general-election ballot.

“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 for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” Platner said. “Those were the goals when we launched this campaign, and they remain my goals today.”

Maine resident Jenny Racicot told Politico that Platner entered her home uninvited while drunk in 2021, after they had dated on and off for two years, and sexually assaulted her. Politico corroborated her account by reviewing documents and speaking to a man whom Racicot had told about her experience with Platner. The Portland Press Herald has not independently verified her allegation.

Hours after the publication of the Politico story, the Maine Democratic Party issued a statement calling on Platner to drop out of the race. The Senate Majority PAC and prominent backers such as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson also called on him to step aside.

Only Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer in Sullivan, can decide to give up his place as the Democratic nominee for Senate in an election considered crucial for Democrats’ aspirations to retake the chamber from Republicans. If he drops out of the race before 5 p.m. on Monday, July 13, the Maine Democratic Party would then have two weeks to decide who would replace him. It remained unclear how the party might do so if Platner bows out.

David Farmer, a Democratic strategist, said that the party seems to have broad discretion in how it would choose a replacement candidate, based on his reading of Maine law and the party’s charter.

Farmer said he would expect the party to include as many voices as possible in the process of selecting a replacement candidate.

“I just can’t imagine a process that’s exclusionary,” Farmer said. “I think you need an open process if this were to happen so that everyone feels like they got an opportunity to weigh in.”

The odds on major prediction markets that Platner would drop out skyrocketed on Monday afternoon, hovering above 90% percent on Polymarket. By 3:30 p.m. Monday, less than 15 minutes after the Politico article was published, the odds on Kalshi that he would drop out in the coming week jumped to 71%, up from 1.5% the day before, according to the platform.

“I can’t see a way out of this for Platner,” said Dan Shea, a professor of government at Colby College, adding that he was surprised Platner’s video did not announce his campaign was over.

“Was he trying to stretch his 15 minutes of fame into 17 minutes?” Shea said in a phone interview.

Platner’s tone in the video appeared to contrast somewhat with a defiant statement his campaign provided to Politico, saying, “These allegations are very serious and Graham vigorously denies them. They are also coached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives.”

Since emerging last August as a political newcomer with a populist message, Platner has withstood repeated controversies, ranging from a history of inflammatory Reddit comments to a now-covered tattoo resembling a Nazi insignia to sexual messages he sent several woman since marrying his wife in 2023. Each time, he expressed regrets, distanced himself from the disclosures, sometimes pointing to a period of depression stemming from trauma sustained in his combat tours, and promised to persevere politically.

Platner handily won the Democratic primary on June 9, just under four weeks ago, after his main Democratic opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, had suspended her campaign. Platner has barnstormed the state touting plans for progressive change and criticizing Collins, a Republican who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, as a creature of a corrupt political establishment.

Shea said Racicot’s sexual assault allegation against Platner compounded the unflattering narrative that his opponents could paint about his character.

It would carry a particular impact, he predicted, because of Democrats’ gripe — often mentioned by Platner — that Collins voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had denied a sexual assault allegation that surfaced during his confirmation process and later played a part in the Supreme Court ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

“All those people who were irate with Susan Collins for voting for Brett Kavanaugh, given, you know, the allegations of a woman while they were in high school, I would imagine that this would be very hard for all those folks to support Platner now,” Shea said.