WATCH: Early Graham Platner critic unloads on 'unapologetic' Senate candidate in scathing rebuke

By Fox News · Fox News

As Democrats scrambled to abandon embattled candidate Graham Platner, after a rape allegation against him torpedoed his insurgent campaign, one progressive lawmaker said it "was a very easy call" to never back him in the first place. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., had no endorsement to rescind, having been among a small handful of Democrats who publicly warned against Platner amid growing controversies, even as much of the party continued embracing him. "I’m relieved. I'm sure Mainers are relieved. He disqualified himself," Dean told Fox News Digital in an interview after Platner announced his intent to drop out of Maine’s Senate race. He later officially dropped out Friday evening. "Suspending his campaign, he took no accounting for himself," Dean said, referring to Platner's 11-minute exit video, in which he fiercely denied the allegations and blamed the Democratic establishment for forcing him from the race. EXPLOSIVE SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATION ROCKS PLATNER CAMPAIGN AHEAD OF KEY DEADLINE IN CRUCIAL SENATE RACE "That's not the kind of person we want as a senator," she continued. "I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat." Dean's comments echoed a viral CNN interview in early June, when she described the rapidly accumulating controversies surrounding Platner as "distressing" and argued he had already "disqualified himself." Her warning came a month before a 41-year-old Maine resident, Jenny Racicot, went public with allegations that Platner, while intoxicated, forced her to have non-consensual sex in 2021. Platner has repeatedly denied her accusation, which was first reported by Politico. At the time Dean spoke out publicly, Platner was the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination. Few Democrats had publicly broken with him despite a growing list of scandals, including a Nazi-linked tattoo, offensive Reddit posts, infidelity and allegations of misconduct in prior relationships, including an account of physical abuse from Lyndsey Fifield, who dated…