Tamara Keith and Carrie Dann on Platner facing calls to drop out of Maine Senate race

By — Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz By — Leila Jackson Leila Jackson Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tamara-keith-and-carrie-dann-on-platner-facing-calls-to-drop-out-of-maine-senate-race Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio NPR’s Tamara Keith and Carrie Dann of the Cook Political Report join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including Democrats in Maine scrambling and calling on Graham Platner to drop out of the Senate race as a sexual assault accuser comes forward, the direction of the Democratic Party into the midterms and what happened in Washington during the nation's 250th anniversary. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: Democrats in Maine are scrambling again, and the state Democratic Party is calling on Graham Platner to drop out of the Senate race, as a new accuser against the nominee comes forward. Politico reported this afternoon that a woman named Jenny Racicot says Platner sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago. She spoke to CNN about the alleged rape. Jenny Racicot, Graham Platner Accuser: I don't believe that you can think that that scenario was consensual. You have to -- you have to understand that that wasn't, when somebody is repeatedly -- I mean, when somebody in the middle of it says, "Don't touch me," like, that's obviously not consensual. Amna Nawaz: Racicot says she's speaking out now as she balanced supporting Platner's politics, but not him personally. Platner responded to the allegations in a video on social media. Graham Platner (D), Maine Senatorial Candidate: Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false. Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins. Amna Nawaz: For more on this development and the week's top political headlines, we turn to Politics Monday, today with Tamara Keith of NPR and Carrie Dann of The Cook Political Report, filling in for Amy Walter this week. Thanks for being here, Carrie. Carrie Dann, Managing Editor, The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter: Thanks. Amna Nawaz: Great to see you, Tam. Let's start with this late breaking news now happening in Maine. Carrie, we were already seeing some Democrats start to come out and call for Platner to step down and step out of the race. What do you think is going to happen here? Carrie Dann: Well, look, I have never seen a candidate make a video like that saying, I'm going to assess the situation, move forward, and go on to say, actually, I'm going to stick this one out. It looks like this is trending towards him making the decision to drop out. Now, the timing is really important here. If t