Sanders breaks silence on Platner, calls on scandal-plagued progressive to 'step aside'

A bombshell rape allegation has thrown Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's campaign into turmoil, with some of his most progressive supporters in Congress jumping ship as his bid for the Senate unravels.

Sanders said in a written statement that he had spoken with Platner about the rape allegation and "recommended that he step aside."

The leading progressive's decision to effectively disavow Platner marks the latest blow to the once-ascendant Democrat's floundering campaign, leaving him with virtually no remaining support from the movement that fueled his populist bid against Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the Democratic establishment.

Another one-time supporter, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., sent Fox News Digital a statement Tuesday urging Platner to suspend his campaign.

"These allegations are serious and cannot be ignored. Graham Platner should step aside," Van Hollen, a progressive senator with leadership ambitions, said in a written statement.

So far, Platner has ignored calls from many of his most loyal supporters to suspend his campaign, though he has not ruled out stepping aside.

If Platner exits the race by 5 p.m. on July 13, Maine Democrats can choose a replacement for the general election ballot.

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., remains the only prominent Platner supporter who has yet to abandon the nominee following Racicot's allegation that Platner barged into her home while intoxicated in 2021 and forced her to have unprotected sex.

The growing exodus is the latest sign that few progressives are standing by Platner after spending months defending him through a series of scandals that threatened the viability of his Senate bid.

Some Platner allies have viewed his rise as part of a broader fight over the Democratic Party's direction, with the Senate hopeful embodying a more populist, far-left vision.

Schumer and Senate Democrats' campaign arm, which had only endorsed Platner after his June primary victory, also demanded the immediate suspension of his campaign following the rape allegation.

The growing fallout comes as Democrats face mounting scrutiny over their responses to the accusations against Platner, after years of taking a hard line on sexual misconduct allegations.

"A lot of people owe apologies to Lyndsey Fifield - most notably Sheldon Whitehouse, who dismissed her allegations on the grounds that she worked for 'right-wing political operations,'" journalist Josh Barro wrote on social media.

Republicans are reveling in the latest allegation against Platner, given that Democrats viewed Maine as a top flip opportunity ahead of November's midterm elections."The Democrat candidate in Maine will either be an alleged rapist with a Nazi tattoo, or someone he selects with the same 'values and vision,'" Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and the chair of the Senate GOP's campaign arm said in a statement.

Sanders, a leader of the party's leftist base who campaigned with Platner several times, was initially silent after Racicot's rape allegation circulated Monday evening. 

He notably continued to support the Senate hopeful after Fifield's allegations first emerged in early June and similarly during reports that Platner sent sexually explicit text messages to at least half a dozen women while married.

Murphy, too, publicly defended Platner after news broke about Platner's infidelity to his wife, Amy Gertner, who he married in 2023. He continued to embrace the Maine Democrat's Senate bid after Fifield and other women accused Platner of abuse.

And amid the piling up of controversies, Murphy suggested that Platner still had more character than incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

"And this race is going to be a contrast between somebody who has put his life on the line for this country, against somebody who is literally empowering the moral hollowing-out of our nation from the White House," he went on.

"He himself said there are lots of things he's done and said that he completely regrets, and I do believe people should have second chances and that people can learn from their mistakes, and I think he's been doing that," he added

Van Hollen also argued that if Democrats replace Platner, his successor must share his brand of far-left populism - a movement that has become increasingly hostile to corporate America and the wealthy.

"We must fight to elect candidates who support working Americans and are willing to take on the billionaire class in order to deliver on people's desire for fundamental change," he told Fox News Digital.