Platner’s campaign trying to navigate exit from consequential Maine race, sources say | CNN Politics

EDITOR’S NOTE: Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner announced Wednesday he was exiting the race. Get the latest coverage here. Graham Platner is poised to speak with members of his campaign staff during a conference call Wednesday evening, people familiar with the matter told CNN, the end of a daylong series of conversations that is expected to pave the way for his withdrawal from the consequential Senate race in Maine. As Democrats waited for him to make an announcement 48 hours after a woman accused him of rape, an allegation he denies, a small team of strategists behind his candidacy spent the day trying to navigate an exit from the race without entirely squandering the movement he built during his campaign against GOP Sen. Susan Collins. “We’ve said from the very beginning that this campaign was never about Graham but about a movement of working people united to take back power,” Ben Chin, the campaign manager for Platner, said in a message to supporters on Wednesday. Platner is expected to announce his decision through a recorded video, which could come later Wednesday. He did not speak during an early-afternoon call with campaign staff, but aides told pe