Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner campaigned on building a growing progressive coalition, but some of the key candidates running across the country have now turned their back on him.

Platner’s campaign against Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was rocked on Monday after Politico’s report that the aspiring lawmaker allegedly raped an ex-girlfriend. Within hours of the allegation circulating, several high-profile candidates disavowed him and demanded he exit the race.

“The credible allegations against Graham Platner cannot be ignored — he should withdraw from the race immediately,” Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said in a statement.

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Talarico and other Democratic Senate candidates pitching themselves as progressives, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, former Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska, former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, all called on Platner to exit the race.

“Credible allegations of sexual assault cannot be ignored,” El-Sayed said. “Voters in Maine deserve a choice for U.S. Senate that doesn’t force them to make a moral compromise between sexual violence or corporate servitude.”

But it’s the first time the five Senate hopefuls have publicly admonished Platner after several scandals have dogged his campaign.

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Fox News Digital did not immediately hear back from each campaign on why each candidate opted to break with Platner now rather than after previous allegations, including the June report from The New York Times that the Maine candidate exhibited “unsettling” behavior with women that often revolved around alcohol and alleged intimidation.

Meanwhile, Platner has yet to withdraw from contention in a contest that Democrats viewed as the key to winning back the Senate.

In a video statement released moments after Politico’s report, Platner dismissed the rape allegation but acknowledged the reality it could have on his campaign.

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“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,” he said.

The clock is ticking for Democrats to figure out their next move — the deadline in Maine for a candidate to drop out is July 13. If Platner does withdraw by then, the Maine Democratic Party, which also disavowed his campaign, has until July 27 to nominate a replacement.

And Collins, the political foe that Platner and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are desperately trying to beat, has stayed at arm’s length from the mess across the political spectrum.

“These allegations are appalling,” Collins said in a statement. “Nevertheless, it is not up to me to choose the Democratic nominee for Senate.”

Traders on prediction market Kalshi are piling into wagers that Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner will drop out of the race by next week.

The contract on whether Platner will drop out before July 14 soared to 94 cents Tuesday morning from the previous single digits, implying traders now assign a roughly 94% probability to his impending exit. The trading volume, or the total dollar amount wagered on this market, sits just north of $4.4 million. 

While prediction markets don’t determine political outcomes, the surge in betting reflects a growing belief among traders that Platner’s campaign is in serious jeopardy following the latest allegations. Platner is seeking to unseat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.

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The market’s abrupt swing follows Democrats’ rapid break with Platner after a rape allegation was leveled against him on Monday, which immediately triggered calls from across the party for him to suspend his campaign.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Platner’s highest-profile backers, rescinded her endorsement after previously saying that he is “my kind of man.”

“With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race,” the progressive senator wrote in a statement.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also withdrew his backing and called on Platner to exit the race.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., likewise pulled their support Monday, though Gallego stopped short of urging Platner to suspend his campaign.

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The mounting pressure for an end to his Senate bid began after Maine resident Jenny Racicot accused Platner of raping her nearly five years ago, telling Politico and CNN that he entered her home uninvited while intoxicated and forced himself on her despite her repeated attempts to stop him.

Platner denied the allegation, saying in a statement he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his campaign.

The Marine Corps veteran and oyster farmer emerged this year as one of the Democratic Party’s fastest-rising political figures, drawing national attention for his populist message and outsider image.

As his profile has grown, so has scrutiny of his past conduct.

In recent months, his campaign has been engulfed by a series of controversies, including the resurfacing of sexually explicit messages, offensive social media posts, a tattoo linked to Nazi symbolism and campaign staff turmoil.

Despite all this, his odds of remaining in the race after smooth sailing to primary election victory last month remained high. But the most recent rape allegation has reversed that, at least on Kalshi.

A streamer who broadcasts to more than 1 million followers on a popular online platform set off a viral firestorm after invoking Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s name as he declared Islam would take over New York City.

“Allahu Akbar!” the extremist internet personality Sneako yelled amidst a group of Egypt soccer fans while drums were banged and horns were blown. Egyptian flags waved among the crowd as they chanted along.

Sneako, whose real name is Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, has been described as a provocateur and palled around with the online antisemitic far-right during his rise to social media stardom. Before that, he was all-in on his support for the political far-left and supported the presidential campaign of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016. He reportedly converted to Islam in 2023.

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But Friday night, after Egypt dethroned Australia in the World Cup, he may have made his most controversial splash yet while live broadcasting on the streets of New York City on the video streaming platform Kick.

Mockingly wiping tears from his eyes, Sneako said: “Oh no, oh no. F— you!”

“This is the Islamic Republic of New York-istan,” he continued. “Islam will be in every household. Inshallah the whole world will be Muslim.”

“Welcome to Mamdani’s New York. You see this city? You see how it looks? Inshallah, your city looks just like this too,” he shouted among the crowd.

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“Inshallah” is Arabic for “God willing,” and “Allahu Akbar” is Arabic for “God is great.”

Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York.

The clip of Sneako quickly circulated on the web, garnering tens of millions of views across platforms including Instagram and X, while thousands of people slammed him for the pronouncement.

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One of the sharpest replies came from Rob O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Usama bin Laden in an early morning raid on the terrorist’s compound in 2011.

“These guys sound WAY different when you wake them up at 2am,” he said.

A pair of massive personalities on X, who have a history of bad blood, even teamed up to demand a harsh punishment for the streamer.

“Deport him NOW!!!” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said in reply to the clip, which elicited a response from X owner and former Jones opponent Elon Musk.

“Yes,” Musk simply replied.

When Musk purchased X — then Twitter — and vowed the return of free speech to the platform, Jones had been permanently suspended. At first, Musk was hesitant to reinstate Jones given the Sandy Hook controversy that surrounded the radio show host. Eventually, however, Musk relented.

One X user labeled the streamer as a “Disgusting creature.”

“Send this dude to Iran if he hates America so much,” said another.

Sneako appeared to cryptically address the controversy in a post of his own on X Sunday night.

“Every knee will bow,” he posted. “Every tongue confess.”

On Monday, he took a shot at Musk for echoing Jones’ deportation post.

“Go back to Africa,” he told Musk, who is native to South Africa. “This is my country.”

Mamdani’s office did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Sneako’s comments.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is being accused by Georgia’s top child welfare official of using vulnerable children and the state’s embattled foster care system for campaign credit after releasing a new ad touting his work on the state’s troubled system.

Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) Director Candice Broce criticized the new foster care-focused ad released last week as the Georgia Democrat seeks re-election in one of the nation’s most closely watched races. In the ad, titled “Our Kids,” Ossoff highlights “a scathing report” and “yearlong bipartisan investigation” alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., into the Georgia foster care system. 

Ossoff presents his probe and new legislation as part of his record protecting children and holding the system accountable. However, Broce says the Democrat is overstating his role and turning a serious child welfare issue into a political victory lap.

“For five years, I’ve been in the trenches fighting for vulnerable children and foster care reform alongside thousands of DFCS workers. Trust us when we say Jon Ossoff is nowhere to be found,” Broce said in a post on X. “Ossoff didn’t get more funding for DFCS after calling us incompetent and resource-strapped. He didn’t secure more federal support for child advocacy centers despite the State’s requests.”

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“He didn’t fix federal law putting group homes out of business,” she continued. “He hasn’t streamlined adoptions for kids placed with loving families. Jon’s ad sounds great, but his words are meaningless to the men and women in the arena.”

Ossoff’s team fired back, however, calling Broce an “unqualified partisan political hack” and accusing her of “dangerous incompetence.” They pointed to Ossoff’s oversight work highlighted in the advertisement that Broce criticizes, which the spokesperson said found children in Georgia’s foster care system were likely sex trafficked while in state care, among other issues. 

“The Office of the Child Advocate, juvenile court judges, former foster children, nonpartisan advocates, investigative reporting, and Senator Ossoff’s yearlong investigation have laid bare the deep and dangerous dysfunction at DFCS,” an Ossoff campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The campaign also cited testimony from juvenile court judges who accused Broce of suggesting that children with special needs be held in juvenile detention while DFCS searched for placements. Broce has denied the allegations, describing them as politically motivated and arguing they distort a broader discussion about how to keep foster youth with complex behavioral issues, runaway histories and trafficking risks safe amid placement shortages.

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“Candice Broce is a partisan political hack irresponsibly placed in charge of care for the state’s most vulnerable kids,” the Ossoff spokesperson said. “Instead of whining that her dangerous incompetence was made public, she should fix her broken agency.”

Broce rejected the attacks on her qualifications, pointing to her background as a health care attorney, former chief deputy executive counsel and chief operating officer to Gov. Brian Kemp and saying roughly 40 state agencies, including DFCS, reported to her in that role. 

At the same time, she did not dispute that Georgia’s foster care system has faced serious challenges, but argued Ossoff used those problems for hearings, reports and campaign messaging without delivering meaningful help to fix them.

“If you’re going to beat us down, show up with something to make it better,” Broce said. “He didn’t do that.” 

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Broce said Ossoff could have used his federal role to pursue resources on Medicaid, behavioral health access and placement capacity, rather than simply spotlighting DFCS failures.

“What’s actually bipartisan is the over $100 million in state funds we’ve gotten from Republican and Democrat legislators who support the issues we’re tackling and believe we deserve more resources,” Broce said. “If he decides today that he actually wants to help us and vulnerable Georgia kids, we’d welcome him with open arms.”

However, Ossoff’s team contests it is not even “Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency [Broce] leads” in the first place, and said Broce was whining that “it’s Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency she leads.”  

“While Sen. Ossoff led oversight, passed an anti-trafficking law, and helped save foster care funding President Trump cut, unqualified partisan hack Broce whines it’s Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency she leads,” Ossoff’s representatives told Fox News Digital.

Broce’s criticism of Ossoff included a contrast between his record and that of Georgia’s other U.S. Senator, Democrat Raphael Warnock. Broce called the difference “stark,” pointing to Warnock’s community events for vulnerable mothers and children and adoption-related measures as examples of practical support she says Ossoff has not delivered.

“Compare his child welfare record to Warnock’s. It’s crystal clear which U.S. Senator from Georgia cares about vulnerable families and kids, and it’s not Jon,” Broce said in her X post.

Ossoff, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, is seeking a second term in November against Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who won the Republican nomination after defeating former football coach Derek Dooley in a mid-June GOP runoff election. Warnock will not face reelection again until 2028.

Federal lawyers are leaving the Trump administration and landing in Democratic state attorneys general’s offices in large numbers as blue states ramp up their legal fight against the president’s second-term agenda, a Fox News Digital review found.

Employment data analyzed by the New York Times indicates that more than 10,000 federal attorneys — approximately one-fifth of all lawyers employed by the federal government — have left their posts since 2025 began. Of these, a Fox News Digital review identified well over 100 who have since begun working for Democratic attorneys general’s offices, with legal filings showing that some of those lawyers are now involved in cases challenging the Trump administration.

Fox News Digital reviewed public LinkedIn profiles, state staff directories, statements from public officials and court filings to identify attorneys who left federal service after January 2025 and later appeared in Democratic attorneys general’s offices or relevant litigation records. The review does not establish why any individual attorney left federal service or joined a state office.

The true number of federal attorneys who have moved to Democratic attorneys general offices under the second Trump administration is likely higher, given that public LinkedIn accounts are not ubiquitous among federal workers.

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“Oregon DOJ is a destination for some of the most talented public servants in the country, including experienced lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice who are choosing to bring their skills to serve Oregonians at the state level,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat, told Fox News Digital. “They’re already making a difference — on consumer protection, federal overreach cases, criminal justice, environmental protection and on litigation like our National Guard case.”

As Rayfield alluded to, many of the attorneys who left federal service after January 2025 have since worked directly on cases aimed at combating the Trump administration. Court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital uncovered scores of individuals who previously worked as lawyers under the Trump administration whose names now appear on legal actions taken against it. 

These include a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict transgender healthcare for minors, a suit filed by California challenging its termination of research grants, an amicus brief filed by Democratic attorneys general in a case seeking to stop Trump from firing FTC commissioners, and multiple cases seeking to rein in the president’s National Guard deployments, among others. 

Even those whose names don’t directly appear on filings can help Democratic attorneys general challenge major pieces of Trump’s agenda and defend state-level policies contrary to the president’s interests.

Many of these lawsuits featured multiple teams of lawyers representing a host of different Democratic states. Democratic attorneys general have publicly disclosed that close cooperation between fellow blue states is a key part of their strategy to resist the Trump administration.

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Speaking to The Guardian in March, Democratic attorneys general disclosed that they have been meeting regularly since 2024 to discuss how they can best resist the Trump administration through joint lawsuits and public engagement. Staff from Democratic attorneys general’s offices reportedly communicate daily regarding how they can hold the federal government to account, discussing items such as which state should lead a given case.

“I’m really proud to be part of this [attorney general] — and, of course, Democratic [attorney general] — coalition that is doing the work every single day to protect our rights, and most importantly, the rule of law,” Massachusetts state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said at a press conference in June 2025. “We can’t take our sight off of that.”

California’s attorney general, meanwhile, called the cross-state collaboration “critical.”

Federal lawyers working in the areas of civil rights, immigration, environmental law, public corruption and antitrust were overrepresented among those who left to work for Democratic attorneys general. 

Government employees generally fall into two camps: career civil servants who are intended to carry out nonpartisan work on behalf of the government and political appointees who are granted greater leeway to work on explicitly political projects. The attorneys identified in Fox News Digital’s review overwhelmingly appear to have held career, rather than political, federal roles before joining Democratic-led state offices. 

Many of the lawyers leaving federal service are taking one, or even two, decades of service with them, constituting a significant transfer of legal talent from the national government to Democratic states.

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One such lawyer worked in the Justice Department for roughly 20 years, beginning as a legal intern and ultimately rising to the position of assistant general counsel, leading multiple teams of attorneys. Now, after leaving the DOJ in August 2025, the lawyer works as a senior assistant attorney general in Colorado, helping the state fight the Trump administration in disputes over federal grants.

They were far from the only high-profile departure under the second Trump administration.

Others who jumped ship included, but were not limited to, the assistant chief counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, the director of transparency at the Department of Homeland Security, multiple U.S. attorneys’ office division chiefs and another near-20-year veteran of the DOJ who now leads the Maryland attorney general’s efforts to hold the Trump administration accountable.

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“Experienced federal prosecutors and lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice are choosing state service, choosing Oregon, and choosing to fight for the people here,” Rayfield added. “We’re fortunate to have them joining the already incredibly talented, proven team here at the Oregon Department of Justice.”

A spokeswoman for New Jersey’s attorney general, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital that it recently added multiple members to its leadership team, including its new insurance fraud head, by recruiting federal lawyers. 

The timing marks a notable change from the first Trump administration, when some of the same attorneys who have since left then remained in federal service, though the reasons for individual departures vary and are not always publicly known.

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“In the Trump era, the conservative movement has become much less able to attract competent elites. Education polarization is a long-term phenomenon, but Trump’s populist style and policy platform has supercharged it, given his disproportionate appeal to the less educated,” political commentator Richard Hanania told Fox News Digital. “This matters, because intelligence and experience are important for any administration trying to achieve its goals.”

“Simply having people who agree with you isn’t enough,” he added.

Bloomberg Law reported in May that the exodus of federal attorneys was seriously harming the Trump administration’s ability to defend its immigration policies, with roughly a third of those in the Office of Immigration Litigation — including many in senior roles with critical expertise — having left since January 2025.

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The Trump administration, however, denies that its efficiency has been rocked by the mass exit of lawyers.

“Even with a thousand fewer prosecutors than the previous administration, this Department has indicted nearly 50,000 more criminals than the previous administration had in the same timeframe,” a DOJ spokeswoman told Fox News Digital. “Our country has the lowest murder rate in 125 years, we’ve arrested more than 90 key cartel leaders, captured eight on the FBI’s Top 10 most wanted list, and removed millions of deadly doses of fentanyl from our streets — all on top of achieving a record 24 victories on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.”

“These achievements are nothing short of astonishing, and they have all been accomplished even with the supposed ‘exodus’ of anti-Trump prosecutors the media idolize,” she added.

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While more than 10,000 federal attorneys have left government since January 2025, agencies have also hired roughly 3,200 attorneys during that period and the Trump administration has made multiple public pushes to encourage or recruit ideologically aligned lawyers to apply for roles. 

The bulk of the lawyers who have left federal service since Trump took office for a second time were at agencies such as the DOJ, the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. California, Maryland, New York and Colorado were some of their most common destinations after leaving the Trump administration.

“Those who were fired from the Department were fired for a reason. Those who resigned or took the fork in the road option likely aligned more with the priorities of President Biden and would naturally leave, which is common during transitions,” the DOJ spokeswoman continued. “The Administration gave career employees the fork in the road option to intentionally reduce the size of the government and eliminate unnecessary layers of staff who don’t effectively contribute to the mission of aggressively tackling crime.”

The White House referred Fox News Digital to a Truth Social post written by President Donald Trump where he claims that many of the lawyers who have departed from his administration were “Radical Left Deep State Lunatics, who are destroying our Country, and Weaponizing Government.”

“This has allowed DOJ to run more efficiently and hire talented attorneys who wholeheartedly believe in our mission to keep the American people safe,” the spokeswoman said.

Fox News Digital reached out to every Democratic state attorney general’s office for comment.

With just under four months to go until this year’s midterm elections, a top Senate Republican remains confident of the GOP’s chances.

Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, recently told Fox News Digital this spring that he’s “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the upper chamber.

But his counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is equally confident her party can flip control of the Senate, telling Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees “all the makings of a blue wave” heading into November.

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Republicans — as the party currently in power — were already up against traditional political headwinds that led to a loss of congressional seats during midterm election years. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings. It’s all a perfect storm that spells unfavorable outcomes for the GOP.

But Democrats have problems of their own as they try to win back control of the Senate, including a party brand that public opinion polling indicates is extremely unpopular.

Add to that high-profile victories this spring and summer by left-wing and socialist candidates over establishment rivals in Democratic primaries that are giving Republicans extra ammunition to portray all Democrats as extremists, or as Trump calls them, “communists.”

Here’s a look at a dozen competitive Senate seats in play that could potentially flip the balance of power in the chamber.

Republicans are defending an open seat in the southeast battleground state, with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis retiring at the end of this year.

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The GOP is rallying around former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, who has Trump’s backing after serving alongside the president’s daughter-in-law and Fox News host Lara Trump in the lead up to the 2024 election.

Democrats, meanwhile, landed their top recruit when former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper launched a Senate campaign last summer. Cooper enjoys tons of name recognition in North Carolina and is 6-0 when it comes to running statewide races.

North Carolina voted for Trump for his second term, but the top nonpartisan political handicapper, Cook Political Report, rates the race Lean Democrat, with Inside Elections ranking it as a toss up.

Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election for a sixth six-year term in blue-leaning Maine.

Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in her 2024 presidential election bid against Trump. And Collins has seen a deterioration of her poll numbers among Mainers from her last re-election six years ago.

But the longtime senator, who has been a top DSCC target for multiple election cycles, has proven tough to beat.

But she could prevail again as her Democratic challenger, Graham Platner, continues to face controversy over his past actions and comments.

The Marine Corps veteran and oyster farmer is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

Republican groups supporting Collins have been blasting Platner over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on a now-deleted Reddit account, a well-publicized Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest, infidelity and allegations of sexual misconduct.

The GOP is also aiming to flip an open seat in the battleground state of Michigan, where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, is making a second straight bid and is the all-but-certain Republican nominee.

Democrats are dealing with a titanic two-way fight between center-left Rep. Haley Stevens, who is backed by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former Wayne County Health Department Director Abdul El-Sayed, a left-wing candidate endorsed by Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

The primary battle, which until Sunday also included progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, has already exposed numerous Democratic Party divisions and provided Rogers, who is backed by Trump, with plenty of ammunition.

Michigan’s primary will be held on August 4.

Democrats scored a major recruiting victory last year when former Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Republican Sen. Jon Husted.

A former lieutenant governor, Husted was appointed to the Senate a year ago after then-Sen. JD Vance stepped down to serve as vice president to Trump.

Ohio, once a premier general election battleground, has turned solidly red over the past decade, and Democrats view Brown as their only competitive candidate in the race to serve the remaining two years of Vance’s term.

Brown lost re-election in 2024 by roughly four points while Trump carried Ohio by 11 points.

The Cook Report and fellow nonpartisan ranker Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate the race as a toss-up, with Inside Elections ranking it as tilt Republican.

Republicans see another flip opportunity in New Hampshire, where a long-held Democratic Senate seat in New England’s only swing state is opening thanks to the retirement of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected governor and senator.

Four-term Rep. Chris Pappas is expected to capture the Democratic Senate nomination in the state’s early September primary.

There’s a primary race on the Republican side between two former senators seeking a return to Capitol Hill.

Former Sen. John E. Sununu, an older brother to former Gov. Chris Sununu, has the backing of the president and has a double-digit lead in public polling. But Trump’s first-term ambassador to New Zealand, former Sen. Scott Brown, remains in the race.

Democrats were given a big boost in the red-leaning state when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced in February that she would challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Peltola lost re-election in 2024 in the at-large district that covers the entire state by three points, while Trump carried Alaska by 11 points.

Meanwhile, there’s a court battle ongoing over the Senate bid by another Dan Sullivan, a former teacher who announced his campaign in May and recently registered as a Republican.

Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026.

The Peach State is a true battleground swing state.

Georgians voted for Joe Biden to be president in the 2020 elections, but then swung red to vote for Trump for a second term in 2024. From 2005 until 2020, the state had two Republicans representing them in the U.S. Senate before electing two Democrats to go to Washington, D.C. when Trump’s first term ended.

Ossoff, first elected in that 2020 race, built a massive war chest while the GOP faced a nasty three-way primary battle for its nomination in the crucial sunbelt battleground state.

In November’s midterms, Ossoff will face Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who was backed by Trump days ahead of last month’s GOP primary runoff election.

While a recent Fox News poll indicated Ossoff holding a double-digit lead, Republicans plan to run an aggressive campaign against the senator.

Republicans are defending an open seat in Iowa, a onetime swing state that’s shifted to the right over the past decade.

But the GOP rallied around Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is backed by Trump, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.

Hinson, a former local TV news anchor who flipped a Democratic-held seat in 2020, is seen as a rising star in the party.

State Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian, won a contested and expensive Democratic primary over more progressive state Sen. Zach Wahls.

State Rep. James Talarico is hoping to become the first Democrat since 1988 to win a U.S. Senate election in right-leaning Texas.

Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary to secure the Democratic nomination.

The Democrat will face off in November against Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

The MAGA firebrand, carrying plenty of political baggage, ousted longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas in an expensive and combustible GOP nomination battle that went into overtime.

The retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is giving the GOP hopes they can flip the seat in the blue-leaning state.

And Republicans landed what they say is a top-tier recruit in former NBC sports reporter turned conservative pundit and activist Michele Tafoya, who is part of a crowded GOP field in next month’s primary.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive, is facing off against more moderate Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the race for their party’s nomination.

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who as Florida’s attorney general was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year to fill the seat once held by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is on a glide path to the GOP nomination in next month’s primary.

Moody will likely face off in November against Democratic challenger Alex Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, whistleblower in the 2019 Trump-Ukraine controversy and brother of Rep. Eugene Vindman.

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Polling in recent months suggests a competitive race between Moody and Vindman in right-leaning Florida.

Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, a former governor, is seeking a full six-year term in the Senate representing red-leaning Nebraska.

He’ll face off in the midterms with former union leader Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who is making his second straight run for the Senate.

Democratic nominee and former pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank is likely to drop out of the race and support Osborn in the general election.

Democrats swiftly turned on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday after a rape allegation triggered a full-on revolt among his most prominent supporters, with calls pouring in from across the party for him to suspend his campaign.

The mounting defections came after Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, accused Platner of rape in interviews with Politico and CNN, alleging the Senate hopeful entered her home uninvited while intoxicated nearly five years ago and forced himself on her despite repeated attempts to get him to stop.

Racicot, who was seeing Platner on and off at the time, told Politico she immediately cut ties with him after he forced her to engage in unprotected sex, saying, “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”

She also told CNN that the alleged encounter was the “dictionary definition” of rape.

PLATNER’S LATEST ACCUSER CLAIMS THE DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE ‘ABSOLUTELY’ RAPED HER

Platner immediately issued a statement denying Racicot’s account and said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his imploding campaign.

The vast majority of Democrats signaled Monday they were unwilling to give Platner that opportunity, with many lawmakers racing to issue statements calling on the Senate hopeful to immediately end his campaign.

The pleas stretched from Platner’s most fervent progressive champions to the party’s establishment wing, most of whom had only recently rallied behind Platner after he won the Democratic primary nomination in June.

“There can be no tolerance for sexual assault,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Platner’s most prominent supporters, said in a statement rescinding her endorsement. “With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had closely aligned himself with Platner, also withdrew his endorsement and called on him to exit the race after news of the rape allegation circulated.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also pulled their support Monday, with Gallego stopping short of calling on Platner to suspend his campaign.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAINE SENATE RACE IS TIGHT, WITH CONCERNS ABOUT BOTH CANDIDATES

The progressive lawmakers continued to support Platner after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused the Maine Democrat of abuse in June — an allegation Platner has repeatedly denied as false and politically motivated.

Khanna notably traveled to Maine to campaign with Platner the following day after The New York Times first reported Fifield’s accusation.

Khanna previously said in multiple interviews that he would disavow Platner if a sexual assault allegation emerged, but told Fox News Digital that the Senate hopeful was “taking accountability” for his past and argued Platner was deserving of redemption.

The reaction among establishment Democrats was equally swift, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., publicly demanding that Platner “immediately” suspend his campaign to give the party time to put forward a new nominee.

The senior Democrats had only recently endorsed Platner following his June primary win after their preferred pick, Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, ended her campaign amid fundraising struggles.

“The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” the pair wrote in a joint statement Monday.

The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, a top outside spending group focused on electing Democrats to the Senate, also said Monday that it would redirect resources away from Maine as long as Platner remained in the race.

TOP PLATNER ALLY TURNS ON HIM AFTER BOMBSHELL RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS CAMPAIGN: ‘RED LINE’

The warning comes as Democrats are up against a fast-approaching deadline to replace Platner as the party’s nominee. Under Maine law, Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13, with the state party allowed to put forward a replacement by July 27.

Democrats view Maine as a top flip opportunity to retake Senate control during November’s midterm elections, but Platner’s rapidly unraveling campaign could derail those plans.

His plethora of scandals — from a former Nazi-linked tattoo to infidelity during his marriage — has sharply divided Democrats as the party seeks to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins on Monday issued a statement calling the rape accusation “appalling” but declined to weigh in on whether Platner should continue in the race.

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL UNDER FIRE FOR RESURFACED COMMENTS CALLING COPS ‘OPPORTUNISTIC COWARDS’

Other lawmakers hailing from the party’s centrist flank, including Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also publicly urged Platner to end his campaign. Neither had formally endorsed Platner before Monday’s rape allegation broke.

Many prominent Maine Democrats also called on Platner to drop his Senate bid on Monday, including Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine and her daughter, former State House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-Maine, who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee to succeed Mills.

Former Maine public health official Nirav Shah and State Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Maine, who both ran for the open gubernatorial seat and have been floated as potential Platner replacements, also said Monday that he should withdraw his candidacy. Jackson, who campaigned with Platner, was among the candidates that the Senate hopeful endorsed to succeed Mills.

A vast swath of left-wing organizations also pulled their support of Platner on Monday.

“The allegations reported today are profoundly disturbing and disqualifying,” Tiffany Muller, president of the Democratic-affiliated group End Citizen United, said in a statement. “The conduct described is fundamentally inconsistent with the standards we expect from the candidates we support.”

VoteVets, an organization that works to elect Democratic veterans, also withdrew its endorsement of Platner, who served in multiple overseas deployments. Meanwhile, Our Revolution, a leftist organization founded by former Sanders campaign staffers, called on Platner to leave the race while demanding that his successor share his far-left policy views.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of Platner’s few remaining progressive supporters, had not weighed in on the sexual assault allegation as of late Monday evening.

A spokesperson for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.

Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker also broke with Platner on Monday, saying “the accusations — they are as credible as it is going to get.”

“This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable,” Piker added during his livestream.

A far-left activist who previously helped organize youth support for Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and volunteered for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass, presidential campaign appeared in an Iranian state media interview praising the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him the “greatest anti-imperialist leader” of her lifetime.

Calla Walsh, who describes herself as a journalist from the U.S. working in Lebanon, made the remarks in an interview aired by Iranian state media PressTV during the outlet’s coverage of Khamenei’s funeral. Walsh was previously profiled by Boston Magazine as a young organizer who helped form Students for Markey and “played a pivotal role” in Sen. Markey’s 2020 primary win over then-Rep. Joe Kennedy III, after first volunteering for Sen. Warren’s presidential campaign.

“He was a leader to all people in the world who struggle against imperialism, against arrogance, against Zionism, against genocide,” Walsh said in the interview. “To me, he was the greatest anti-imperialist leader to live during my lifetime.”

IRANIANS CHANT ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ AMID FUNERAL FOR LATE AYATOLLAH KHAMENEI

Her comments came with an Iranian flag seen in the backdrop.

Public profiles have traced Walsh’s political work through several Massachusetts progressive campaigns. Boston Magazine reported that Walsh later served as communications director for Jordan Meehan, a left-wing Massachusetts state House candidate, and was organizing with Act on Mass while doing digital media work for Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia’s re-election campaign in 2021. 

The conservative Capital Research Center’s InfluenceWatch, citing Walsh’s LinkedIn, also reported that Walsh was a regional organizer and strategist for Act on Mass from November 2020 to September 2021 and worked as digital director for Mejia in 2021.

Walsh has been tied to Michelle Wu’s Boston mayoral bid as well. A New York Times profile identified Walsh as part of the “Markeyverse” network and showed her canvassing for then-Boston mayoral candidate Wu.

SECRET SIGNAL CHATS REVEAL HOW ANTI-ICE AGITATORS COORDINATED NEWARK RIOTS

Meanwhile, Walsh has previously appeared in Fox News Digital reporting on far-left protest networks. In January, Fox News Digital reported that Walsh shared video of unrest in Minneapolis after the fatal Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti and bragged that protesters had trapped “ICE Gestapo” at the scene.

The same report noted that Walsh had previously been filmed in Iran shouting, “Death to America! Death to Israel!”

The interview from Iran’s state media about the Supreme Leader’s funeral was published under the headline, “Ayatollah Khamenei’s message of resistance was truly universal: American activist.” Press TV summarized Walsh’s remarks as arguing that Khamenei’s legacy extended beyond Iran and the Muslim world and that the massive funeral crowds represented “not only grief but a march of victory.”

Walsh also framed the recent conflict as a defeat for the United States, saying, “It’s still fair to say that the U.S. has been more humiliated than it has ever been before in its history and has signed away huge concessions to Iran.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walsh, as well as to the high-profile Democrats she has worked or campaigned for, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

President Donald Trump is arriving at the Turkey-held NATO summit with fresh frustration toward several European allies for their responses to the U.S.-led operations against Iran, opening a new front in his long-running campaign to pressure the alliance over burden-sharing.

The summit, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, is expected to focus on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO’s long-term strategy toward Russia. 

But it will bring Trump face to face with some of his biggest foes in NATO, including Spain, whose Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called the U.S. war in Iran “illegal, absurd and cruel.”

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Wednesday that Trump remains “disappointed” by allies that declined to allow U.S. forces to use military bases or overflight rights during the operation, as well as by political statements criticizing the strikes.

WHY NATO’S DEFENSE SPENDING IMBALANCE LASTED FOR DECADES

“The president has expressed disappointment in both a couple of our allies’ unwillingness to support us using our bases in their countries,” Whitaker said. “And, as importantly, he’s also incredibly disappointed in the political statements that came out around the time of the launch of Epic Fury.” 

The disagreements are expected to loom over a summit where Trump will once again press allies to increase defense spending, while also raising broader questions about whether NATO members are prepared to back the United States during conflicts beyond the alliance’s traditional focus on Europe.

Trump’s frustration has been evident publicly as well. 

Ahead of the summit, he said he was attending largely because of his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while again criticizing some NATO allies over defense spending and questioning their commitment to the alliance.

“Except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don’t think I would have gone to it,” Trump told reporters at the White House June 24.

During the same appearance, he renewed criticism of Spain and other NATO allies over their refusal to support U.S. operations against Iran, declaring, “There’s a problem with Spain.”

Whitaker said the operation also highlighted disparities in military capabilities across the alliance, noting that while some NATO members possess “exquisite capabilities,” others lack the capacity to contribute meaningfully to a large-scale U.S.-led military operation.

The administration’s frustration stems from a series of decisions by European allies during Operation Epic Fury. 

The United Kingdom initially declined to allow U.S. forces to launch strikes against Iran from British bases before later reversing course after Iranian attacks escalated. Spain denied the use of its territory and airspace for combat operations while Sánchez publicly criticized the U.S.-led campaign.

Italy also sought to distance itself from the operation, insisting U.S. flights from bases on Italian soil were limited to logistical support rather than combat missions, while Germany served as a key logistics hub but stopped short of publicly endorsing the military campaign.

European governments defended their positions by citing domestic legal constraints and concerns about being drawn into a wider Middle East conflict. Britain later allowed U.S. strikes after initially withholding approval, while Spain continued opposing the campaign, Italy restricted its support to noncombat operations and Germany limited its role to logistics.

EUROPE’S $116B FIGHTER JET ‘FAILURE’ RAISES FRESH DOUBTS ABOUT ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT US

Several allies later agreed to support maritime security operations aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but administration officials say the initial reluctance to back the U.S. campaign continues to shape Trump’s view heading into the summit.

While the Middle East is not expected to dominate the formal agenda, they underscore broader questions Trump is bringing to Turkey about burden-sharing and whether NATO allies are prepared to back the United States beyond the alliance’s traditional focus on Europe.

The tensions over Iran build on years of Trump’s criticism of NATO, which he has repeatedly accused of relying too heavily on the U.S. During both his first and second terms, Trump has questioned whether Washington should continue defending allies that fail to meet spending commitments and has at times floated withdrawing from the alliance altogether.

“If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” Trump said March 6. “If the United States was in trouble and we called them … you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”

Trump is expected to use the summit to press allies to meet NATO’s new benchmark of spending 5% of GDP on defense.

“The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing,” he wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

Whitaker suggested the administration increasingly views burden-sharing as extending beyond defense budgets alone.

“We believe that those that are doing more should get benefits from doing more,” he said.

Whitaker confirmed the administration was considering countermeasures for allies that don’t meet defense spending goals. He added that countries contributing more could receive advantages ranging from priority in defense procurement to greater engagement with U.S. leaders.

While the summit is expected to focus publicly on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO’s long-term strategy toward Russia, analysts say the fallout from Operation Epic Fury is likely to shape private conversations between Trump and several European leaders.

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ian Brzezinski said during a press briefing the recent conflict has created “two scorecards on the table” for the summit— NATO’s traditional priorities of strengthening deterrence against Russia and Trump’s assessment of which allies proved most supportive of the United States during the Iran conflict.

“We have low expectations because of the issues not on the agenda, but that are driving the atmospherics,” Torey Taussig, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said.

Support for embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is cratering among Democrats, with one of his most prominent supporters calling on him to exit the race following a harrowing rape allegation.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., rescinded his endorsement and called on Platner to suspend his campaign following a bombshell Politico report detailing a rape allegation by Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, who previously dated the scandal-plagued candidate.

Platner immediately denied Racicot’s account — which alleges that he barged into her home in 2021 and forced her to have unprotected sex — but has said his campaign is determining its next steps.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said in a post on social media Monday evening. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH SCANDAL-PLAGUED GRAHAM PLATNER, WARN OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ IN PARTY

The blistering statement comes as Khanna, a far-left populist with likely presidential ambitions, had embraced Platner’s insurgent Senate campaign for months amid a patchwork of controversies.

Khanna personally campaigned with the Maine Senate hopeful in June shortly before Platner won the Democratic primary nomination. The campaign stop came just one day after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused Platner of abuse — an allegation first reported by The New York Times that Platner has fiercely denied.

By that point, Platner was also facing scrutiny for sending sexually explicit messages to at least half a dozen women while married, making a plethora of offensive online statements over the period of a decade and getting a Nazi-linked tattoo that he wore for most of his adult life.

Khanna previously appeared to dismiss the severity of Fifield’s account alongside many Democratic lawmakers, who seized on her background in Republican politics. He also argued that Platner, a combat veteran who has struggled with PTSD, had overcome a dark past and was deserving of redemption.

“Here you have a case of someone who had a dark chapter in his life, was in toxic relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this country, and the Maine voters are saying, ‘Look, let’s give him some grace, and his focus is stopping these wars, and it’s getting national health insurance, and it’s taking on economic inequality,” Khanna told CBS News in an interview.

WATCH: DEM SENATORS EXCUSE PLATNER’S CONDUCT AT CRISIS HUDDLE WITH EMBATTLED MAINE CANDIDATE

And Khanna told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum in June that he asked Platner if there were any credible allegations of sexual assault that had yet to be revealed. He said Platner denied it.

“I made it clear that, for me, is a red line,” the California lawmaker said. “And he said, no, there is not.”

“Now, obviously, he had texts that were allegedly consensual, and while he was married, And that’s a matter for him and his wife. And his wife came out and said that she forgave him. And so that is a different matter for me than abuse or assault or what people did in the Epstein class. It’s a very different matter.”

Khanna was not the only prominent Platner supporter to disavow the Senate hopeful following Monday’s rape allegation.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., rescinded his endorsement Monday evening, but stopped short of calling on Platner to exit the race.

Gallego, a former ally of disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has faced scrutiny over his past treatment of women. The Senate Ethics Committee recently dismissed a complaint brought by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in a bipartisan manner.

Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has championed socialist candidates across the country, also distanced himself from Platner on Monday.

“This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable ,” Piker said during his livestream.

Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment.