Graham Platner must withdraw. Maine Dems must respect what the voters want.

Tell Platner to step down and the party to step up. Plus a Good Trouble Lives On mass call tonight, protect the roadless rule and more

Jul 07, 2026

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TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ
Platner must step down from Senate race after rape allegation, Maine Democrats should replace him on the ballot with a progressive populist (and get as much public input as possible)
Mike Lee is coming after our public lands - tell senators to protect the roadless rule
10 days to Good Trouble Lives On, mass call tonight!
Abortion advocates talk about what’s next for reproductive justice TOMORROW at 7PM ET

If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!

DRAW A CLEAR MORAL LINE. RESPECT THE VOTERS. DEFEAT SUSAN COLLINS.

Yesterday, Politico revealed that Jenny Racicot, an ex-girlfriend of progressive insurgent candidate and Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner, says he sexually assaulted her while they were dating. They confirmed that she shared this claim with multiple friends long before he entered politics and discussed it in emails with her therapist.

This is a credible allegation, and one that follows his social media comments victim-blaming survivors of sexual assault, reports of adultery and emotionally abusive behavior and physical intimidation in past relationships – together indicating a long pattern of disrespect and violence towards women.

Our position at Rogan’s List is and remains: no sexual predators in public office. And the fact that Republicans do not share this standard is not an excuse for the left to do the same. If we’re going to claim the high road, we need to walk it. The whole question really doesn’t call for much more commentary than that. Platner should withdraw from this race, now.

At this point, whether that will happen is still up in the air. Platner has denied the sexual assault claims, but announced he is taking time to “reflect on the best path forward” for his campaign. The leadership of the Maine Democratic Party, Maine’s legislative leaders, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and Platner supporters like Rep. Ro Khanna, Sen. Ruben Gallego, Our Revolution, Track AIPAC and End Citizens United have called for him to step down. If he withdraws before this coming Monday, he can still be replaced on the ballot. 🗣️ We should be reaching out to the Platner campaign by e-mail at info@grahamforsenate.com, especially if we have volunteered or donated, and let him know he should step down immediately. 🗣️

PLATNER MUST WITHDRAW

After that comes the challenge of defeating Susan Collins in spite of him. If he withdraws by the deadline, the state Democratic party committee has until July 27th to name a replacement to go on the ballot. There is no legally mandated process for how they should make that decision.

In approaching this, it’s worth acknowledging that Platner has already gone through a series of alarming revelations that could have derailed his candidacy, and many of his supporters did not waver. We should take into consideration why that is, not as a matter of recrimination but because it’s going to be important for us as we move forward.

Platner is a progressive, an economic populist and a political outsider who has made challenging wealth inequality, billionaire rule and corporate influence in both parties the heart of his campaign. He has called for big solutions to big problems and stood uncompromising on his principles. He struck folks as having a very authentic and very deep anger about the systemic challenges we face and talked about them like an actual person, instead of a poll-tested purveyor of talking points. He seemed, in short, real. He struck a chord with people, seemed like what they’d been waiting for from a candidate for major office, and that enthusiasm, that feeling of “finally, someone who gets it!”, created real loyalty and with it a willingness to accept some human flaws, even increasingly serious ones.

His focus on taking on the powers that be undermined the efforts to criticize those flaws. When folks connected to Democratic establishment politicians and corporate media spotlighted his controversies, supporters questioned their motivations and honesty, and their arguments for doing so were frankly hard to poke holes in. Platner’s candidacy explicitly represented a threat to the position of these gatekeepers, so why should they be trusted to act as neutral arbiters, deciding what was and wasn’t important enough to be disqualifying?

As these charges validate every concern about Platner’s character, they are not going to make voters any less hungry for the willingness to fight against a flailing status quo that drew them to Platner in the first place. Primary voters in Maine made their preferences clear. To move forward and to maximize our chances of emerging out of this mess to unseat Susan Collins and flip the Senate, their voices and choices must be respected.

Maine Democrats should select a candidate who can credibly claim the mantle of insurgency that Platner has proven himself unfit to carry. One who is immediately available is former state senate president Troy Jackson, who just ran a strong progressive populist campaign for governor that was backed by many of the same folks who supported Platner, but they can cast a wide net as long as their final pick is acceptable to Platner’s primary voters. They need to take this chance to show the people they’re listening rather than tell them what they should want.

The state Democratic committee should also recognize that absolutely no one wants them picking the Senate nominee. They need to make it clear that they are actively seeking the input of the rank-and-file, and commit themselves to being guided by that feedback. There have been reports that they are considering a pop-up convention or a statewide caucus the weekend of July 25th to effectively re-do the primary. Those options should be pursued if at all feasible. 🗣️ Let’s urge Maine’s Democratic leadership to respect the public, pledge to replacing Platner with another insurgent populist, and make a proactive effort to seek their views on their choice. We can send a message to party headquarters here and find contact info for members of the state committee here. 🗣️

CONTACT MAINE DEMS

CONTACT COMMITTEE MEMBERS

PROTECT THE ROADLESS RULE

In 2001, the U.S. Forest Service adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect national forests from roadbuilding and logging. Since then, there have been various debates and arguments and modifications and specific exclusions, but approximately 30% of national forest land (59 million acres) is roadless, safeguarding the habitats and species within it. But roads are needed for logging, so Trump and the GOP are trying to ditch the rule as another gift to corporate America.

America’s leading voice against our public lands, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), has proposed an amendment to the Wildfire Prevention Act (S. 140) that would roll back this rule and prevent future administrations from restoring it. Last month, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted on party lines to add it to the bill. It’s now headed to the full Senate. 🗣️ Let’s use this script from 5Calls to urge our senators to strip this amendment out before final passage. 🗣

KILL THE AMENDMENT, SAVE THE FORESTS

MAKE GOOD TROUBLE, DEFEND VOTING RIGHTS

We’re down to 10 days left until from Good Trouble Lives On, a three-day celebration of Congressman Lewis’ legacy where activists across the country will resist attacks on the right to vote with voter registration drives, helping people check their voter status, educating their community on what they’ll need to make their ballot count and more. TONIGHT at 8PM, organizers are holding a mass call to talk about this weekend of action and how we can be part of it as hosts and attendees. 📣 Folks who want to learn more or just get hyped can sign up here. 📣

MASS CALL TUESDAY

🪧 If we’re ready to get engaged in the fight for the vote post-Voting Rights Act, we can find Good Trouble Lives On events already on the books near us on the map here or on Mobilize here. 🪧

EVENTS NEAR US

WINNING STRATEGIES TO SECURE REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE AFTER DOBBS

Many of us remember the fear and anger we felt when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Ohio’s six-week ban took effect that summer, and within weeks a 10-year-old rape victim had to leave the state for care. to Indiana for care. Doctors, patients, and advocates organized, gathered signatures, and beat back a legislative attempt to raise the threshold for passage, then won at the ballot box in November 2023, writing abortion rights into Ohio’s Constitution by a margin of about 57-43 in a state that voted for Trump twice.

TOMORROW from 7-8 PM ET, we can join Red, Wine and Blue for an honest conversation with experts and advocates about where Roe fell short, how Ohio won, what other states can learn from it, and how we build real reproductive justice, for ourselves and for the generations that follow. Let’s sign up to join them here.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

👀 KEEPING AN EYE ON… 👀

Find us on Bluesky!

ISOequanimity

Jul 7

Powerful men and sexual misconduct often travel in pairs, regardless of political affiliation (NYT’s Michelle Goldberg believes Bill Clinton raped Juanita Broaddrick). Let’s keep the Epstein files in mind, along with Katie Johnson’s allegations. She claims that that, when she was a 13 year old child and virgin, she was tied to the four corners of a bed and raped, while onlookers ignored her screams for help. I think that every adult in this country should listen to her testimony.

BTW, in 1994, the year this allegedly happened, I was a middle school guidance counselor. The most requested Christmas gifts for my 13 year female students that year were Polly Pocket and Furby. They were children. Some hadn’t even started ovulating yet.

https://katemanne.substack.com/p/the-actual-conspiracy-theory-surrounding.

https://katemanne.substack.com/p/they-tried-to-bury-the-katie-johnson?r=2g4u&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/ghislaine-maxwell-transferred-to-minimum-security-prison-camp-in-texas. https://www.kcra.com/article/maxwell-invokes-fifth-clemency/70291961.

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