Platner’s three-day vetting job comes back to haunt Dems as rape allegation rocks Senate bid

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Democratic leaders and strategists are pressuring Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner to exit the race amid severe sexual assault allegations reported by Politico. Melissa De Rosa highlights Platner's controversial past, including a Nazi tattoo and disparaging Reddit posts, criticizing the Democratic establishment for vetting failures. Tudor Dixon notes the timing of the allegations is a strategic political move. Democratic operatives reportedly commissioned a brief, low-cost background check on Graham Platner before launching his Senate campaign, a decision that appears to be backfiring as new allegations and controversies engulf the candidate and Democrats call on him to drop out. Candidate vetting, which has become standard practice in high-stakes elections, is a process that often takes several weeks and tens of thousands of dollars to properly c