WASHINGTON — Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has begun dropping campaign events from his schedule as a key deadline for replacing him on the ballot approaches.
The Platner campaign indefinitely postponed scheduled town halls in Augusta on Sunday and Gorham on Monday, as well as an event in Sanford that had its listing taken down.
Gorham Democrats claimed Monday morning that the Senate candidate was “not feeling well.”
The Platner campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources told The Post that the reduced schedule comes as the Democrat and his team are anticipating another negative story about the candidate dropping soon.
Last month, The New York Times published a story about six ex-girlfriends of Platner, three of whom alleged he physically abused or intimidated them. The Senate hopeful has also been dogged by allegations of sexting six other women while married, which he and his campaign acknowledged.
That’s on top of stories last year about Platner making offensive comments on Reddit and getting a tattoo of a notorious Nazi SS symbol that he later replaced.
Maine Democrats have until 5 p.m. July 13 to swap Platner for another candidate to face-off against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
A recent Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena College survey showed Platner leading Collins 49% to 47%, though 3% said they didn’t know whom they would support or declined to answer.
