Democrats went all-in on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, despite his troubled history with women, a Nazi-themed tattoo, and things he has said about a wounded military veteran.

But the situation has changed, and now the party is bailing him as fast as they embraced him, likely because all the baggage was weighing down his popularity, with polling showing him slipping behind incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

The fall began with a number of hit pieces in traditional media outlets, but the latest one – an allegation of rape by former girlfriend Jenny Racicot – appears to have been the straw that broke open the Democrat dam of retreat.

The question is: Did top Democrats know it was coming? Did they have anything to do with ensuring the story got out? Those are questions being asked now following a Fox News report published on Friday.

The outlet reported that two Democratic-aligned political organizations quietly pulled millions of dollars in planned advertising for Maine’s Senate race just days before a rape allegation against Platner, who has said he will drop out of the race, became public.

The timing has given Republicans fresh ammunition, fueling questions about whether Democratic leaders had already lost confidence in Platner’s campaign before the allegation surfaced.

WinSenate canceled more than $6.2 million in planned advertising for Maine’s Senate race, according to AdImpact, a political advertising tracking and analytics firm, Fox reported.

The canceled reservations included approximately $5.9 million in broadcast advertising scheduled to run from July 7 through Aug. 31, along with $330,000 in cable advertising that had been slated to begin June 30.

AdImpact also reported that Majority Forward redirected an additional $240,000 in planned digital advertising.

The advertising changes occurred about a week before one of Platner’s former girlfriends publicly accused him of rape.

Majority Forward, however, denied that the decision to shift its advertising plans was related to the campaign’s recent turmoil, Fox noted.

Samantha Cantrell, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, laid the shift in funds at the feet of Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.).

“Chuck Schumer started moving money away from Platner in Maine days before Politico reported the rape allegation,” she wrote on the X platform.

“What did he know and when did he know it?” she asked.

The rape allegation, first reported by Politico and denied by Platner, dealt a major blow to a campaign that had already been weighed down by months of controversy.

Since October 2025, Platner had faced criticism over comments linked to a deleted Reddit account as well as a Nazi-associated tattoo he obtained while serving in the military.

The scrutiny intensified on June 4 after The New York Times reported that several former girlfriends accused him of emotional abuse—allegations that Platner also denied.

“D.C. Democrats are furious that Graham Platner went down swinging with a lengthy swan song calling out their ‘political establishment’ coup to silence grassroots progressives,” one GOP operative told Fox News Digital.

“Chuck Schumer’s ad spending proves he only discovered moral clarity when his midterm strategy was on life support,” the operative added.

According to AdImpact, the advertising funds were redirected to another Democratic committee, which used the money to reserve ad time in Maine from July 7 through Aug. 31.

Majority Forward denied to Fox News that the spending shift was related to the turmoil surrounding Platner’s campaign.

“Majority Forward moved its (c)4 spending to another entity, a fairly common practice with issue advocacy campaigns,” a spokeswoman for the organization told Fox News Digital.

“This change was not connected to recent campaign events,” the group noted further.

WinSenate and Majority Forward are both closely aligned with the Democratic Senate campaign infrastructure.

The two groups have ties to Senate Majority PAC, a well-funded political committee operated by allies of
Schumer.

WinSenate has historically received financial support from Senate Majority PAC, while Majority Forward has shared personnel and operational expenses with the organization.

This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.