Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, suspended his campaign on Wednesday after an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated derailed his candidacy. His exit matters because he had been challenging veteran Republican Senator Susan Collins in one of a handful of races that will decide whether the GOP keeps its narrow Senate majority in November's midterm elections.

Platner, a populist Democrat backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, had won a landslide victory in Maine's 9 June primary just a month earlier. He withdrew two days after a report detailing the rape allegation and five days before a deadline that would otherwise have prevented Maine Democrats from fielding a replacement nominee. His accuser, Jenny Racicot, 41, said he had forced her to have sex against her will five years ago while he was "almost blackout drunk" — a claim Platner denied, though her account was reportedly corroborated by a later partner and emails to her therapist. He is now urging fellow candidate Valli Geiger to run in his place.