Graham Platner has dropped out of the Maine Senate race.
His exit comes after Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) withdrew his endorsement of Platner following widespread criticism of the candidate.
This is the second candidate in nearly as many months that Gallego has backed off endorsing over sexual assault claims. Back in April, Gallego rescinded his endorsement of his longtime best friend: California gubernatorial candidate and resigned congressman, Eric Swalwell.
Although other allegations against Platner detailing unseemly behavior began to emerge earlier this year, it wasn’t until reporting came out this week detailing a sexual assault allegation that Gallego ended his support.
“The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious,” said Gallego. “I am rescinding my endorsement.”
The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious.
Gallego declined to rescind his endorsement after an initial accusation of assault emerged from 40-year-old conservative pundit Lyndsey Fifield in New York Timesreporting. Fifield and others have speculated that Gallego opted not to act because he was less inclined to believe Fifield’s claims. This new allegation claiming sexual assault came from a 41-year-old Maine resident and massage therapist, Jenny Racicot.
Racicot accused Platner of raping her in 2021 when he was heavily intoxicated. Racicot offered accounts of the alleged assault in exclusive interviews with CNN and Politico. Racicot had initially lent some insight to the media about Platner’s “reckless” and “unsettling” behavior, but decided to come forward with her story after witnessing the doubts raised against Fifield’s testimony.
Platner issued a short video statement calling the allegations “troubling, serious, and false,” and that all accusations of nonconsensual behavior were untrue. Platner also indicated he would take time to “reflect” on the future of his Senate campaign.
Gallego had praised Platner as a unifier across varied voting demographics, defending him against discoveries of Platner having acquired a tattoo of the Nazi military’s skull and crossbones known as a Totenkopf, and aligned himself publicly with Antifa and socialism.
“Platner can bring out new voters, can bring out cross-voters,” said Gallego. “This guy is an authentic man.”
The senator also defended Platner’s online indications of sexual deviancy as typical military behavior. Platner had admitted to a habit of masturbating into portable public toilets and appreciating the explicit graffiti on restroom walls.
Gallego described Platner as “relatable,” though other veterans serving in Congress disagreed.
The Republican Party of Arizona called Gallego “just another fat rat jumping off the various sinking socialists’ ships.”
There is a pattern emerging – first his former "roommate" Swalwell, now his socialist buddy. Ruben is just another fat rat jumping off the various sinking socialists' ships. https://t.co/4IgTNS4WJy
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) July 7, 2026
Other Democrats who have held onto their endorsements of Platner have also begun bowing out.
The Democratic nominee for Maine governor, Hannah Pingree, called the allegations “deeply disturbing” and urged Platner to exit the race.
“Democrats need a nominee who can beat Susan Collins in November. Graham Platner is no longer that candidate,” said Pingree. “Graham Platner tapped into something real — voters hungry for change showed up with real passion and energy. That energy doesn’t have to go away. It needs a new candidate to carry it forward.”
My statement on Graham Platner:
These allegations are deeply disturbing. Jenny Racicot is a woman who has shown real courage in sharing her story — what she's describing is serious, credible and cannot be dismissed.
For Maine, for the future of control of the US Senate, and…
Senate President and Republican candidate for attorney general Warren Petersen (LD14) has joined a court fight to ensure only citizens vote in elections.
Petersen filed an amicus brief alongside House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) in a case where progressive advocates are challenging the Trump administration’s effort to centralize citizen data across multiple agencies in the name of voter identification verification and even immigration enforcement.
The League of Women Voters (LWV) and several of their local chapters, along with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five citizens, sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Attorney General’s Office over the data centralization last September.
These advocacy groups and private citizens claim the Trump administration’s data pooling violates the 1974 Privacy Act. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with them in a ruling last month. The federal government has filed for a stay of judgment pending appeal.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08), announced his intent to file articles of impeachment against Sooknanan for the ruling, which he claimed was an overreach and weaponization of the judiciary against the executive.
“[This ruling] was a blatant and unlawful subversion of the President’s executive authority and a direct assault on election integrity,” stated Hamadeh. “Judges who weaponize their bench to interfere with the President’s constitutional duties must be held accountable.
Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan’s egregious overreaching ruling blocking President Trump’s common-sense effort to verify the citizenship of those who want to vote in our elections was the final straw.
It was a blatant and unlawful subversion of the President’s executive authority and… pic.twitter.com/ezoLJJhiba
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) July 7, 2026
Petersen argued in their amicus brief that Arizona law relies on the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to process voter registration and government benefit inquiries.
The lawmakers cited the Purcell principle, a precedent established in the 2006 Supreme Court ruling involving former Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell that declares that the courts should avoid ruling to change election rules too close to an election.
Petersen and Montenegro argued voter confidence in Arizona and other states would be jeopardized if the court declined to withhold enforcement of its ruling while the appeal was underway. Other states impacted by the district court ruling hindering SAVE usage for elections, as well as immigration enforcement, include Florida, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio.
“Making changes to an important election-integrity system at this late stage in the election season creates unnecessary confusion for election officials and the public,” stated the brief. “This court’s order altered an election-related process in the middle of elections around the nation and thus harms the states’ interest in maintaining voters’ confidence in the electoral process.”
Their brief also argued that the ruling would fly in the face of federalism, the mechanism on which states rely to exercise their laws.
Today, I filed an amicus brief in the DC district court supporting DHS’s efforts to ensure that only citizens are voting in our elections. It may not surprise you that the ACLU is in opposition. pic.twitter.com/63JC2MJP1U
Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes have stood opposed to the Trump administration’s data centralization and voter verification efforts as alleged breaches of privacy.
Today, Judge Susan Brnovich's dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit demanding our voter registration rolls. @AZSecretary and I will continue to defend the privacy of voters against federal overreach.
Navajo County will keep former lawmaker David Marshall as its recorder despite a legal challenge from Attorney General Kris Mayes.
On Monday, the Maricopa County Superior Court cleared the former state representative for the 7th Legislative District of any wrongdoing in connection to his assuming the Navajo County recorder position.
Marshall stepped down from the legislature in mid-April to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Navajo County’s former recorder, Timothy Jordan.
Attorney General Kris Mayes had promptly asked the courts to remove Marshall from the recorder’s office for accepting the appointment within the time period he would have continued to serve his term had he not resigned, citing as justification the Arizona Constitution’s provision barring members of the legislature from holding any other offices or taking employment with state or local governments.
From Article IV, part two, section five of the Arizona Constitution: “No member of the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed shall be eligible to hold any other office or be otherwise employed by the state of Arizona or, any county or incorporated city or town thereof.”
Marshall accepted the appointment several days prior to resigning from the legislature, and his legislative term was scheduled to end January 2027.
Mayes told Marshall in a demand letter that the Arizona Constitution required lawmakers to wait out their legislative terms prior to holding any other offices or accepting any state or local government employment, regardless of a resignation, citing the finding of an attorney general advisory opinion issued in 1977.
Mayes demanded Marshall resign on threat of legal action in the Arizona Supreme Court.
“Because your term as an elected representative will not conclude until January 2027, you are not currently eligible to hold another public office or be otherwise employed by the state or ‘any county … thereof,’” stated Mayes.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David McDowell disagreed with Mayes’ interpretation.
McDowell stated in a Monday ruling that only by taking the oath of office for county recorder as an active legislator would Marshall have run afoul of the Arizona Constitution. Marshall’s resignation from the legislature went into effect on April 17; Marshall didn’t take an oath of office to become county recorder until April 21.
Therefore, McDowell said Marshall was not a member of the legislature when he officially assumed the recordership.
McDowell’s finding was consistent with what Marshall’s private attorney, Linley Wilson, claimed in a response letter to Mayes, which cited Arizona Supreme Court precedent drawing a distinction between persons elected to the legislature and members of the legislature.
“The concern is straightforward: a sitting legislator should not be able to use his legislative power to create or enhance an office for his own benefit, trade votes for positions, or otherwise exploit his seat for personal gain,” stated Wilson. “It appears that no Arizona court has ever held that a legislator who resigned before assuming another appointed office was subject to ouster through a quo warranto action or any other legal proceeding. To our knowledge, every reported case in which ouster resulted involved a public officer who failed to resign or failed to cure a disqualification before assuming office.”
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The planned opening of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Arizona has been delayed.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE, and Attorney General Kris Mayes have entered an agreement to pause the conversion of a property in Surprise into an immigration detention center pending an environmental review.
Mayes sued to halt the property conversion in April, claiming DHS and ICE failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The agreement reached on Tuesday acknowledged the Trump administration’s duty to adhere to the former through an environmental analysis, but didn’t address the latter allegation pertaining to the federal government’s duty to arrange for “appropriate” places for immigration detention.
Mayes described the agreement as a “significant win” in a press release issued on Wednesday.
“Federal agencies must complete the environmental review process required by federal law before moving forward with these types of projects,” said Mayes.
This agreement is a significant win for the people of Surprise and for the rule of law. Federal agencies must complete the environmental review process required by federal law before moving forward with these types of projects.
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) July 1, 2026
Similar legal challenges alleging NEPA noncompliance have impacted other immigration detention facility projects in other states: Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey. The Trump administration initially attempted to argue its conversion projects were exempt from the NEPA, but after losing to a challenge in Maryland the administration pivoted on its approach to the Michigan and New Jersey challenges to agree to environmental reviews.
Environmental reviews take typically months, if not years, to complete. However, the Trump administration has recently made a point of expediting environmental reviews in other politically pressing situations.
Last spring, the Department of the Interior announced it would accelerate the review process to be completed in under a month in order to meet the demands of President Donald Trump’s declaration of a National Energy Emergency.
No reports have emerged indicating that the Trump administration plans to undertake similar expediting measures to get the Surprise or other planned immigration detention facilities up and running.
There may not be much of a desire for an expedited turnaround given another recent development.
New leadership within the Trump administration has indicated plans to reverse course on the national buildout of additional detention facilities. ICE announced last month that it would be selling or passing along to other agencies seven of the 11 facilities it had initially purchased to convert into detention facilities. The Surprise facility wasn’t among the seven facilities identified for offloading.
Kristi Noem, former DHS secretary, had directed the facility purchases and guided the conversion plans. The new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, said in a statement to The New York Times that ICE would be prioritizing plans that facilitated the expedited removal of illegal aliens, not prolonged “hous[ing of them] on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense.” Instead, DHS will maximize the use of existing detention space through state and county partners.
At present, ICE has four facilities in Arizona: the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center in Florence, the Florence Service Processing Center in Florence, the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, and the San Luis Regional Detention Center in San Luis.
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Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) has backed an arrangement to secure lawfare protections for American farmers and ranchers.
Crane was present for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Small Business Administration (SBA) that establishes a joint process to intake, investigate, and resolve lawfare complaints.
As part of the signing, the two agencies hosted a roundtable where farmers and ranchers shared personal testimonies of alleged regulatory and legal overreach.
Two Arizona rancher families impacted by that kind of alleged overreach were present at the event: Dustin and Becki Ross of Windmill Mountain Ranch, and Casey and Meggan Murph of H Bar and Y Ranch.
The Ross family has endured a two-year-long stall on their grazing allotment due to archaeological-clearance requirements, affecting their property maintenance and herd management.
The Murph family faces the potential loss of their grazing leases to a foreign company’s solar project. Their family has worked the land for over 100 years, predating Arizona statehood.
In a press release, Crane accused the federal government of historically siding with environmentalists to target farmers and ranchers. However, Crane said the Trump administration has taken a novel, friendlier approach to the welfare of families like the Rosses and Murphs.
“Farmers and ranchers are the foundation of a strong and thriving nation. Despite their tremendous contributions to our way of life, the federal government has too often stood by as radical environmentalists targeted them,” said Crane. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, Secretary Rollins, and Administrator Loeffler, those days of bureaucratic neglect are over. This Memorandum of Understanding will help protect America’s producers from senseless red tape and litigation. We look forward to continuing this critical partnership and laying the groundwork for a healthy, robust industry for generations to come.”
Under this lawfare protection arrangement, the USDA will collect complaints and the SBA will handle case management and resolution.
The SBA said in its announcement of the memorandum of understanding that the Trump administration has taken a posture of believing the plight of farmers and ranchers first, and seeking justification for the regulations and legal actions that allegedly burden them.
“The goal is to identify patterns of abuse and eliminate regulations that drive up costs and drive down productivity,” stated the SBA. “Family farmers do not have the time or legal resources to fight back when Washington gets it wrong. Under POTUS, we are answering to the producers who power this country, not the bureaucrats who hold them back.
SBA and @USDA have signed a new MOU to help farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses report costly federal rules and lawfare.
Under this partnership, USDA will collect complaints and share them with SBA for case management and resolution.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said their agency’s Lawfare Portal received over 600 submissions from producers across 47 states, including Arizona, who she says were “unfairly targeted by their own government.”
The USDA launched its Lawfare Portal last April in the wake of a high-profile criminal trespass trial involving a South Dakota ranching couple in a land dispute with the U.S. Forest Service. Like the Arizona families at Thursday’s event, the South Dakota couple’s family have worked the land for over 100 years.
There is still so much more work to do.
Since launching USDA's Lawfare Portal last April, we've received more than 600 submissions from producers across 47 states—farmers and ranchers who have been unfairly targeted by their own government. We review every single case because… pic.twitter.com/KLg0w1ykR5
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) July 2, 2026
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