Maine voters, once loyal to Platner, abandon him after sexual assault allegation

To Katie Herklotz, backing Graham Platner in his U.S. Senate bid has felt like being stuck on a “roller coaster” for nearly a year.

In 2020, after Republican Sen. Susan Collins won a fifth consecutive term to the Maine seat, Herklotz thought the state was ready for someone new. “We just need a progressive lobsterman to run against her,” Herklotz, who works in insurance, remembered telling her friends.