Gretchen Carlson sounded off on Graham Platner’s statement suspending his Maine Senate bid, slamming it as a “disgusting display of hubris.”
During Wednesday’s broadcast for CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” the veteran journalist addressed the video update from Platner, in which he once again denied the newfound allegations of sexual assault, painted himself as a “regular person” and claimed the “political establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner.”
“That was a disgusting display of hubris,” Carlson said in response. “That every woman and man in America should be incredibly upset about. Regular people do not abuse women. It’s always somebody else to blame. It’s typical cry of assaulters.”
She continued: “His own wife turned in text messages that he was having with other women. He posted on Reddit many years ago that he believed that women should be responsible for when bad things happen to them sexually. Not to mention, the Nazi tattoos and a myriad of other things.”
As Carlson went on, she accused Platner of “conflating … his candidacy of being popular with being an every kind of person with accusations of rape.”
“Those are two totally different things,” she added. “And a real man would stand up and take accountability for what has happened here. This movement has had immense progress over the last ten years and these women are believed. And I don’t know what this display was in this video, but I wouldn’t want the endorsement of Graham Platner whoever the Democrat is running in this race.”
Watch Carlson’s commentary below. A representative for Platner did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Journalist Gretchen Carlson slams Graham Platner’s statement suspending his Senate campaign as “a disgusting display of hubris” and the “typical cry of assaulters” after Platner continued to deny the rape allegation against him. pic.twitter.com/2nHx7R3HJN
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) July 9, 2026
Carlson wasn’t the only notable figure to weigh in on Platner’s withdrawal from the Maine Senate race Wednesday. Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov took to X amid the update, writing, “Platner is out—good. It should’ve happened sooner. I want to underscore that Republicans don’t get to take a moral victory lap here. They’re still the party of Trump.”
David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, also had some choice words for Platner’s exit statement.
“In the end, Platner chose as his closing act a page right out of @realDonaldTrump’s tawdry playbook,” he wrote on X. “Deny. Deflect. Refuse responsibility. Play the martyr; slime your accusers. Platner built an admirable movement. But there was nothing admirable about the way he said goodbye.”
Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders’ political action organization Our Revolution instead chose to voice its support for Troy Jackson as Platner’s possible replacement.
“Graham Platner made the right decision to step aside,” Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese said in a statement. “Our Revolution rescinded our endorsement earlier this week, and we said clearly this is not the Democratic establishment’s opening to hand-pick a replacement. Maine’s progressives won the primary by a historic margin, on Medicare for All, on ending corporate money in politics, on ending forever wars. That result doesn’t disappear because one candidate is gone.”
He continued: “That is why we are rallying behind Troy Jackson. He is a logger, a union leader, and former President of the Maine State Senate. He led Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaigns in Maine twice. He and Platner ran side by side and endorsed each other. He has spent his life in the fight working people are asking for. He is not arriving to it because a seat opened up.”
Geevarghese then reminded Maine voters that they had “days, not weeks, to decide” on a best path forward.
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