Platner Volunteers Want to Move Forward with a New Candidate
The populist movement propelling Graham Platner’s senatorial campaign is eyeing former state senator Troy Jackson.
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Since announcing his run almost a year ago, Graham Platner’s source of strength was his ability to organize people passionately committed to building a populist movement centered on the needs of working people. The energy behind this politics of change is genuinely real and organic. Thousands of people have volunteered their time to Platner’s cause across every county in Maine.
But after allegations of rape against Platner broke yesterday, many of those volunteer workers no longer believe he is the right standard bearer for the movement they’ve been working so hard to build. The victim, Jenny Racicot, told Politico that Platner broke into her home in 2021 while drunk and began forcing himself on her. Racicot said she tried to separate herself from Platner but that he followed her to her bedroom and raped her.
Drop Site spoke with numerous Platner volunteers to determine where Maine’s rapidly growing populist base might be headed. Overwhelmingly, supporters are ready to move on from Platner while remaining emboldened to continue their work building the grassroots movement that he jump-started.
Volunteers on Platner’s statewide organizing Discord server, with nearly 1,400 members, called for him to withdraw from the race Monday after the allegations were reported. The volunteer Discord server is dedicated to the door knockers, canvassers, digital organisers, and tablers who’ve been propelling his campaign.
“I don’t necessarily want Graham to win. I want our political ideas to win. He is not coming back from this and we should find someone to carry on the ideals now,” Dante Cusolito, a Platner volunteer and recent college graduate from York county, told Drop Site. “People can be flawed and become better, but hanging your movement on the coattails of somebody credibly accused of sexual assault is the exact thing we are trying to be better than.”
The initial volunteer-powered response for a progressive replacement for Platner has centered on former state senator Troy Jackson, a Bernie Sanders-backed logger from Northern Maine who was endorsed by the Maine DSA. Jackson served as president of the Maine Senate from 2018–2024 and recently ran for governor in the state’s Democratic primary, finishing a close third.
An online petition is now circulating to “Draft Troy for Senate” and has been endorsed by the Jackson team in their own Discord server.
Troy Jackson campaign spokeswoman Christine Kirby told Drop Site that since the Politico story dropped they have been flooded with calls, texts, and emails asking Jackson to step in.
“He is clearly the strongest option to replace Graham Platner and take on Susan Collins in the general election,” Kirby told Drop Site. “This movement is greater than any one person, it’s about a coalition of Maine people fighting for a future that doesn’t have to belong only to the wealthy and powerful. And Troy is up for the fight.”
Jackson filed paperwork Tuesday with the Federal Elections Commission to form a U.S. Senate exploratory committee. He is the first Democrat to do so. A recent poll of 405 likely voters found Jackson with a 5-point lead over Collins.
The process for selecting a new nominee is still being decided. As of Tuesday morning, the Maine Democratic Party has said it will not be choosing the replacement by committee. Sources close to the situation have said a state convention in which delegates elect a new candidate is under serious consideration. In order to begin the replacement process, Platner would need to withdraw by July 13.
The Maine Democratic Party released a joint statement calling on Platner to withdraw. “This Senate race comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle against a government, supported by Senator Collins, that serves the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of ordinary Maine people. It is essential that we refocus this campaign on that struggle,” the statement said.
Corey Butler, a mid-thirties volunteer and part-time media staffer from the Platner Discord told Drop Site the new allegations were “pretty much a red line for everyone involved.” He has been working with the campaign at almost every event and town hall since its beginning. If Platner does drop out, he would “really like to see Troy Jackson get the nod” as replacement.
Patrick Reis, 29, a volunteer from Portland, described himself to Drop Site as a “hardcore Platner supporter” who has been working with the campaign since the first town hall. Reis said he believes the allegations against Platner, noting the “woman in question hasn’t been a far-right operative for over a decade and had corroborating evidence,” differentiating these claims from the previous reporting in the New York Times.
Reis said Platner “has to drop out immediately,” adding that his “personal pick” for a replacement would also be Troy Jackson, “as he is very similar politically to Platner, which has shown to be very popular.” Regardless of the nominee, he will “absolutely” continue volunteering.
“Platner often said he was building a movement to outlast him or carry on in his absence. I bet he thought that time would come years from now, but it’s upon us,” Reis said. “I hope and pray it is another progressive, but if it isn’t we should still rally behind them and use our power base to push for progressive policies wherever we can.”
Kamran Darnall-Hirani, a 19-year-old volunteer, told Drop Site the campaign was never about a “cult of Graham,” and has always been about building a populist movement focused on the needs of everyday people. They believe any replacement must be “another working class candidate who comes out of the movement,” and would “wholeheartedly” throw their support behind Troy Jackson.
“This has been about working Mainers rejecting a politics that doesn’t serve them,” Darnall-Hirani added.
In county-level Platner Signal groups, volunteers driving the door knocking, canvassing, and tabling efforts in their respective regions repeatedly expressed how they were “struggling” and “incredibly upset.” Multiple volunteers said the story was “painful” to read. One volunteer leader noted that no volunteer “staff members had been involved in conversations nor did anyone receive advanced notice” about the story before it broke.
“Whatever happens, I would like to keep our group chat alive. The name may change, but that won’t change that we have all become advocates for ourselves and our communities,” Kyla Mihalovits, a late-thirties female field organizer who leads a Platner Central Maine County volunteer cohort for the campaign, told her Signal chat of nearly 50 active volunteers.
“I’m here for it. Absolutely not giving up on the progressive project, and the community that has come together over it,” Allison Anger, a female volunteer in Kennebec County replied.
Anger told Drop Site she has been involved in Platner’s campaign for the policies, not the candidate. She considers it a tragedy that electoral politics require that we marry our policy demands to a single human being.
“The important thing is we are all still here. What we are demanding of our government has not and will not change. We just have to persist and fight for policies we support, regardless of what person we elect to carry out or will in office,” Anger added.
“For the moment, group leaders and volunteers are focusing on being there for each other and keeping our contacts and the friends we’ve made supporting this campaign together. We’re focused on advancing progressive policy,” Mihalovits said. “This was never about a single candidate, but about all of us working together for a better vision than Susan Collins ever offered Maine.”
Morgan, a male volunteer in the Central Maine Signal group, told Drop Site that compelling sexual assault allegations must always be a red line, regardless of how they surface and from whom. He has been with the campaign “since day one,” canvassing, phonebanking, and volunteering at town halls.
He said Platner “needs to do the right thing and step down, and actively encourage his volunteers to channel their incredible energy and organization into the next leader who will carry our platform forward.”
“This campaign represents an unprecedented investment of my time and energy. I didn’t do it for a single candidate,” Morgan said. “I believe our policy platform is bigger than Graham Platner. It is a vision that transcends any one man, and I have faith that we can nominate a leader who will carry that vision forward, and wield the power that comes with it.”
Establishment Democrat or progressive champion? Interesting and telling how these accusations always occur just prior to the election. Margaret from Progressive Victory already going after a possible replacement while wearing a Medicare for All mask. Something feels off.
"Men are so stupid." That's a sentence I hear every time I see a friend of mine. She says, "Who rapes, beats their wives/girlfriends, starts wars, likes fights, sniper shoots children (the IDF), kidnaps children to abuse them, abuses animals, and so on." Some women are that way, too (Hillary Clinton for one; she cackled with glee when she killed Gadaffi), but when they are, they act just like men. And, of course, not all men lead with their penises. I'm sorry that Platner raped a woman, but that act is unforgivable.