By Eric Bradner, Jeff Zeleny, Arlette Saenz, Alison Main

(CNN) — Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner said in a video statement Wednesday he was suspending his campaign, taking aim at the Democratic establishment while clearing the way for the party to select a new candidate to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the most important contests of November’s midterm elections.

Platner’s decision comes after a woman told CNN and Politico he raped her while he was heavily intoxicated nearly five years ago when they were in a casual dating relationship – an allegation Platner denies.

“We believe that for the movement to continue it can’t be me — and for that reason we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said in an 11-minute video posted on X, adding that he intends to file paperwork to withdraw.

Platner spent a large portion of the video railing against the Democratic Party establishment that he claimed is using the allegations of sexual assault and dating violence, which he vigorously denied, to suppress him and his movement.

“It’s not the false allegations though that have brought us to where we are. It’s the fact that they are being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish,” Platner said.

He added the “brutal political reality” is that those in power are using the allegations as “an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign,” including the ability to fundraise and access voter data.

“We were asking for real democracy, and we did it the right way, and we won, but now the ball is in the court of the Democratic establishment. My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine, and on November 3, it needs to belong to the people of Maine, and the next Democratic senator for Maine needs to belong to the people of Maine,” he said.

As the video message was sent out Wednesday evening, Platner was delivering the news to his campaign staff on a video call. Platner was calm, a participant on the call told CNN, with his voice cracking a few times. Several younger staffers’ eyes became red.

He faced Maine’s July 13 deadline for general election candidates to withdraw from the ballot. The state Democratic Party will now have two weeks to put forward a replacement candidate.

Maine’s Senate race is critical to Democrats’ hopes of winning a Senate majority in November’s midterm elections. The party needs a net gain of four seats — most of which would have to come through wins in red states.

While well-funded Democrats have fallen short against Collins in previous contests, Democrats believe a favorable national environment could buoy their chances this year in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won by nearly 7 percentage points in 2024.

Platner’s support among Democrats collapsed earlier this week after Jenny Racicot said he showed up drunk at her house in 2021 after she asked him not to come and then forcibly had sex with her despite her repeated demands that he stop — at one point knocking over a sewing cabinet, which inadvertently left a needle stuck in her leg. When she confronted him the next morning, he said he did not remember what had happened, Racicot said.

Racicot said she did not report the incident to authorities at the time, and she broke off contact with him soon afterward. Asked if she now considered the incident a rape, Racicot said, “By definition yes, absolutely yes.”

Platner said in a video Monday that the allegations are “troubling, serious and false” but recognized that they could make it more difficult for him to defeat Collins.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” Platner said in the video.

Shortly after the allegations were reported, many Democrats, including one of his closest allies in Congress, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, called for him to drop out of the race.

Campaign surrounded by controversies

Controversies have swirled around Platner’s campaign since its early days. The candidate had a skull and crossbones chest tattoo that has Nazi associations, which Platner has said he was unaware of until recently. However, he could not explain why a former girlfriend was describing his controversial chest tattoo as a Nazi symbol months before he said he learned of its meaning.

Platner said in October that he’d had the tattoo covered up with another tattoo.

CNN’s KFile has also reported that in deleted social media posts, Platner once called himself a “communist,” dismissed “all” police as bastards, and said rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid. He has disavowed the posts, saying that they came at a time when he felt disillusioned and angry and expressed those emotions online.

Last month, Platner faced separate allegations of unsettling behavior toward women he dated, according to a report published by The New York Times. In a statement, Platner disputed claims of physical intimidation and said the most serious allegations were false and politically motivated.

Another Platner ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, described her own alleged mistreatment by Platner for the first time on camera to CNN on Tuesday, saying that he repeatedly grabbed her, at times leaving bruises, and once blocked her inside a bedroom while they were dating more than a decade ago.

Platner’s campaign called Fifield’s allegations “categorically false” and said they come “from a person with a well-documented political agenda.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer, became the presumptive nominee in April ahead of Maine’s June primary after two-term Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the Democratic race. But some groups continued polling other Democrats against Collins even after Platner won the primary.

Party scrambles to move forward

Potential candidates to replace Platner include three losing gubernatorial candidates on this year’s primary ballot: Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who has a long list of progressive supporters; and former state Sen. Troy Jackson, a logger who was endorsed by Sanders in the governor’s race and campaigned alongside Platner.

Dan Kleban, a brewery owner who ended his Senate campaign shortly after launching it last year to endorse Mills, formally declared for the race on Wednesday. “I believe I can unite our party and finally defeat Susan Collins in November,” Kleban wrote in a Substack post he later shared on X.

Another possible candidate is state Rep. Valli Geiger, who Platner had called prior to his withdrawal to encourage her to consider running if he stepped down. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Platner had “not made any decision on endorsing.”

The Maine Democratic Party on Wednesday approved a plan to hold a nominating convention to select a new nominee if Platner steps aside from the race.

“Today, the Maine Democratic Party held a meeting with over 100 state committee members who voted to hold a nominating convention to choose a new nominee if there is a vacancy to fill,” Charlie Dingman, chair of the Maine Democratic Party, and two other party leaders wrote Wednesday. “We will announce the full timeline, details for how the nomination process will move forward, information about how to participate, and requirements for candidates soon. We will keep the public informed throughout the process – transparency is of the utmost importance.”

Voters in Maine expressed concerns in recent days about the process for replacing Platner and how the scramble could impact Democrats’ chances of defeating Collins in the November election.

“It’s getting late in the game,” said Frederic Fahey, a Democratic voter in Portland who supported Platner in the primary. “They’d have to find a good candidate who could come up to speed really fast and then move forward. I think even under the best circumstances that would be very difficult.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Allison Gordon, Jake Tapper, Andrew Kaczynski and Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.

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