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Graham Platner has ended his Maine Senate campaign 72 hours after Politico published a report in which a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Platner, a 41-year-old oysterman and war veteran, launched his campaign last August as a political newcomer and rode a grassroots wave to a blowout primary win on June 9, taking more than 156,000 votes and 72% of Maine’s Democratic ballots while knocking out Governor Janet Mills, the “establishment’s” handpicked choice. He was set to face Republican Senator Susan Collins, who has held the seat for 30 years, in one of the most watched races in the country. Democrats consider Maine a must-win state they need to flip to take the Senate, and Collins is the only Republican in Congress from a state Democrats carried in the 2024 presidential race. Platner survived a string of controversies along the way, including offensive social media posts, a chest tattoo with Nazi connotations he later covered up, sexually explicit texts sent to women after his 2023 marriage, and allegations of threatening behavior from former girlfriends. Before this report, he had never been accused of sexual assault.

What’s going on now: In an emotional 11-minute video posted to his social media channels, Platner announced he was suspending his campaign, insisting the move was not a concession of wrongdoing.

“We are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said. “This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won…And now they are not going to let us have it, not if it’s me.”

The allegation that broke the campaign came from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who dated Platner on and off for more than two years. She told Politico that one night in late 2021, after she texted him not to come over, Platner let himself into her unlocked home while heavily drunk, ignored her repeated objections, and forced her to have sex with him. Politico reviewed emails between Racicot and her therapist and 2023 Facebook messages in which she warned an acquaintance about Platner, and interviewed people she had confided in over the years.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Racicot said. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'”

Platner denied the allegations, calling them “troubling, serious, and false” and saying that “any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.”

His campaign claimed the allegations were “coached and coordinated by out of state establishment operatives,” noting the story landed a week before the ballot deadline just as earlier allegations dropped a week before the primary.

Despite all of this, Platner said he won’t file his formal withdrawal paperwork until he’s confident his replacement is chosen in an “open and democratic” way, a standoff that’s already turned ugly, with state party chair Devon Murphy-Anderson accusing his campaign of trying to “manipulate” the replacement process, which Platner’s side denied.

This all comes as Maine Democrats race to nominate a new candidate at a convention before the state’s July 27 deadline, with Troy Jackson, Nirav Shah, and Shenna Bellows among the names circulating.