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• Hindsight Bias - 5% (86 hits)
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• Sunk Cost Effect - 2.5% (44 hits)
• Optimism Bias - 7.5% (130 hits)
• Pessimism Bias - 0%

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Top Democrats Who Backed Graham Platner Through Controversy and Allegations

While embattled Maine U.S.

Senate candidate Graham Platner has denied the recent sexual assault allegations made against him, the prominent Democrats who pushed the accused with an alleged Nazi tattoo to win their party’s nomination will be immortalized below.

Sen.

Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

As Senate Minority leader, Schumer’s endorsement of Platner was one of the most important he received.

A week before the Mainer won the Democrat primary in early June, Schumer said he was the party’s best chance at beating incumbent Sen.

Susan Collins (R-ME).

When asked by reporters if he still supported Platner after he had been widely criticized for his Nazi chest tattoo, sexting with women while married, mocking a military Purple Heart recipient, disparaging groups of people, and a host of other scandals, Schumer said several times that he endorsed him to “beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) was preparing to devote significant financial resources and national support to Platner’s campaign until Jenny Racicot, a Maine woman who once reportedly dated Platner, said he came to her home uninvited and raped her.

The 41-year-old alleged to Politico in a Monday report that Platner, with whom she had been in an “on-and-off relationship,” was “deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop.”

Schumer, along with DSCC Chair Sen.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), released the following statement hours later:

The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing – violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable.

Graham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins.

The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.

While the latest allegations against Platner proved to be too bad for him to keep Schumer’s support, the Senate hopeful still had his endorsement after he was accused of unsettling and abusive behavior by multiple other women he had allegedly been romantically involved with.

Sen.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

Like Schumer, Gillibrand had thrown the Senate Democrats’ support behind Platner over Maine Gov.

Janet Mills (D), who suspended her campaign before the primary.

As chairwoman of the DSCC and along with Schumer, Gillibrand had initially released a positive statement on Platner:

Over the past year, we have created a path to win a Democratic Senate majority and put a stop to the chaos and damage of the Trump administration by defeating the Republicans who enable his harmful agenda.

Susan Collins has never been more vulnerable after she voted with Trump 96 percent of the time, confirmed his far-right judicial nominees, and took millions from special interests while voting to rip health care away from Mainers.

In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.

Again, her support for Platner ended when Racicot went public with her claims.

Rep.

Ro Khanna (D-CA)

Khanna was one of Platner’s loudest supporters amongst House Democrats, repeatedly defending him in the media after more and more scandals surrounded him.

Speaking with Fox News last month, the California congressman said he does believe the candidate's ex-girlfriend's allegations and called his past conduct “shameful” — while arguing that Platner's behavior was due to post-traumatic stress disorder from being deployed to Iraq and his struggles with alcoholism.

He said that he had a problem with alcohol, he had an ugly period in his life.

And he believes that he has transformed and he has redemption.

And the voters of Maine had a choice and they voted for him by 72 percent.

At this point, almost the entire Democratic Party is supporting him and it’s for the voters to decide whether they believe his transformation is sincere.

I believe that they will make that determination, but I do believe that people have to extend grace to folks who own up to past mistakes and say that they’ve transformed and that they're better.

Khanna made a short statement on X after the latest troubling allegations revealed in Politico, writing, “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line.

These allegations are very serious and credible.

Graham Platner should drop out from the race.

I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

Sen.

Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)

Gallego endorsed Platner months before the primary — even as more powerful Democrats like Schumer were still backing Mills instead.

He was only the second sitting senator to announce his support, after Sen.

Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

His endorsement statement said:

Since I met Graham a couple of months ago, and from talking to my non-political friends and Marine Corps buddies from Maine, I know Graham can draw people into politics right now who have been really unhappy with the two parties and feel forgotten.

Those are the people we need to come out in an election year, and I believe Graham is the only candidate who can really do it.

Gallego also defended Platner's Nazi tattoo, which he claimed he got during a drunken trip to Croatia during his time in the U.S.

Marines, and he did not know what it signified.

“If you’re a young man or a young woman, and you’ve grown out of it and taken the steps to grow out of it,” the Arizona senator told reporters on Capitol Hill back in October 2025.

“Everyone has the right to grow out of stupidity, essentially … and I think voters should take the opportunity to evaluate that.”

“Everyone has a right to grow and grow out of their stupidity,” Gallego told Semafor.

“I wasn’t exactly the ideal candidate back in the day,” he added.

Following Racicot's allegations of rape, Gallego also pulled his endorsement with a short statement on social media.

Gallego was also a very public supporter and close friend of disgraced former Rep.

Eric Swalwell (D-CA) before calling on him to step down from Congress after he was accused of sexual assault this past spring, claiming that he had no knowledge of his alleged wrongdoings.

Rep.

Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) brought forward a complaint against Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office and the Senate Ethics Committee in April, alleging sexual misconduct of his own doing and possible campaign finance violations.

Gallego's office denied Luna's allegations, and the complaint was dropped by the committee after an investigation.

Sen.

Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Sanders announced his endorsement in August 2025, ahead of a joint "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in Portland, Maine, with Platner and gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, arguing that the Marine vet would be the best to represent the working class.

"He’s a Mainer through and through, and he is building a movement strong enough to take on the oligarchy that is making Maine unaffordable for all except a privileged few,” Sanders wrote in a statement, adding that “we need senators in Washington who are prepared to take on the billionaire class and fight for working people.”

As the controversies around Platner were heating up just before the primary, Sanders was still a strong supporter.

When asked in June if he still backed Platner, the socialist senator replied, “Of course, why would I not?”

While Platner's name remained on Sanders' endorsement page on Monday night, several hours after the latest allegations dropped, the progressive organization that he founded called for him to withdraw from the race.

According to Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, the sexual assault accusation is "too serious to treat as a distraction from the campaign or the issues.”

“Whoever leads this movement forward must be someone who has actually lived the fight Graham Platner ran on: a record with working people, with unions, against corporate money, already tested and trusted by the same base that delivered this result,” he added in a statement.

Jon Favreau (President Barack Obama's former speechwriter; podcaster)

Not to be confused with the Hollywood actor and director by the same name, Favreau served as White House Director of Speechwriting under Obama from 2009 to 2013, and co-founded the political podcast network Crooked Media with other former Obama staffers.

To over one million followers on X, Favreau defended Platner from criticism in April:

"Graham Platner isn’t just our best and only chance to beat Susan Collins; he’s a good, decent man who’s struggled and grown and is always trying to do better," the podcast host wrote.

"I hope everyone with reservations takes a little time to get to know the real-life version of him, not what the algorithm throws in our faces.

Clearly, that’s what so many people in Maine have done – from all different walks of life and political persuasions."

Conservative commentator, Stephen Miller, shot back, "A nazi deathcamp tattoo is not an algorithm, you absolute tool."

In a post responding to Platner's video statement denying Racicot's claims, Favreau changed his tune:

"Platner needs to drop out ASAP — these are awful, credible allegations," he wrote.

"Said on the pod after the (also credible) June NYT story that his biggest problem going forward would be credibility.

It's now abundantly clear that he just hasn't been honest about his past and can't be trusted as a candidate for office."

"Saving grace is that the party can find a replacement by the 27th as long as he drops by the 13th, which I very much assume he will," Favreau added.

In a surprising move that left some pointing out the clear irony, former New York Gov.

Andrew Cuomo called out fellow Democrats for excusing Platner's mounting pile of controversies before the rape allegations came out.

“To run this fellow Platner, who has so many problems that the far left just excuses.

Well, Nazi tattoo?

‘Don’t worry about it.’

Well, he’s anti-cop?

‘Excuse that.’

Well, women have made accusations?

‘We'll excuse that,'” said Cuomo, who notoriously resigned from gubernatorial office in disgrace after receiving sexual harassment allegations from several women.

“They just excuse everything and have this absolutist mentality.

If you call the person a Democrat, or if the person calls themselves a Democrat, then they are a Democrat and they must be supported by Democrats," the ex-governor added in a June episode of his radio show, The Pulse of the People.

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC.

Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.