A Blood-Red Line in Maine

The eyes of the nation are on the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Maine.

John F. Di Leo | July 8, 2026

The eyes of the nation are on the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Maine, since a peculiar Marxist won the Democrat party nomination this past June. 

In an explosive Politico report released Monday, July 6, it was alleged that Democrat nominee Graham Platner sexually assaulted his former girlfriend, Jenny Racicot in 2021.

The nominee categorically denies the charge. 

They apparently agree that their relationship was “on again, off again,” having met on Bumble in 2019, which makes it somewhat murky, but of course if she said no at the time, that’s rape.  She reports that she ended the relationship permanently after this 2021 incident. 

Several prominent Democrats have begun retracting their endorsements of the nominee, apparently in the hope that he will drop out of the race in time to meet Maine’s July 13 deadline for the party to be allowed a two-week window in which to select a replacement. 

Incumbent senator Susan Collins (R) has been a resilient political icon in Maine for decades.  As a moderate Republican, she has comfortably won, consistently, in a state that Democrats always expect to capture.  Would the Democrats have won this time, with Platner?  It’s difficult to imagine.  But the party continued to at least pay lip service to their confidence in Platner until this latest story broke. 

The Statute of Limitations 

We shouldn’t move on to discuss this issue without addressing the elephant in the room, from the perspective of the criminal justice system: If this happened five years ago, why didn’t the victim come forward before this? 

The victim claims that she didn’t come forward about it earlier because she was conflicted; Being a leftist like him, she was hesitant to hurt his campaign.  But Platner wasn’t a politician five years ago, when the alleged assault occurred.  There was no political reason to protect him at the time. 

Society has statutes of limitations for two primary reasons.

First, we want a prosecution to be fair to everyone involved — both suspect and........

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