Graham Platner went down swinging — even as some of his political confidants urged him not to.

Several of the embattled Maine Democrat’s closest advisers pleaded with him Wednesday to strike a “conciliatory” tone in the announcement terminating his Senate campaign, according to two people close to Platner’s team with knowledge of the internal discussions. But the progressive bucked their advice and made it a condition of dropping out of the race that he get free rein to assail establishment Democrats and blame them for the ignominious end to his rapid political rise.

And so, shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday — just two days after POLITICO reported that a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2022 — the oysterman released a defiant, emotional social media video. He continued to deny the allegations against him. He blasted the “corporate media system and the political establishment” for acting as “judge, jury and executioner.” And he railed against Washington Democrats for ripping the rug out from under him.

“Those in power, who have the ability to do so, are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign,” Platner said. “They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.”

The behind-the-scenes details about the debate that unfolded inside Platner’s campaign before his Wednesday night announcement were confirmed by the two people on condition they be granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

One of the individuals said Platner’s aides specifically urged him to focus on “gratitude” in his campaign farewell message — but to no avail. Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Platner’s fiery 11-minute missive now stands as the capstone to an improbable campaign that overpowered staunch establishment opposition but collapsed as prominent Democrats — including the party’s powerful campaign arms and the candidate’s biggest backers — swiftly abandoned ship after POLITICO’s report.

Shunned by national Democrats and locked out of state party negotiations over how to proceed, Platner unleashed his video — one final attempt to shape a race he once dominated.

But the end of Platner’s campaign was a massive relief to Democrats who saw their tough road to retake control of the Senate crumbling if he continued on against Collins in one of the most critical races on the map.

The Democratic apparatus rushed back in the minutes after his departure from the race, with Senate Democrats’ campaign arm launching a fund to raise money for the party’s new nominee. Senate Majority PAC, a top Democrat-aligned group, said it was “committed” to defeating Collins, the incumbent Republican — just days after declaring it was “redirecting resources away from” the race because of Platner’s initial reluctance to drop out.

The about-face capped off a frenzied two days in which Platner and his top advisers debated how to proceed in private while publicly sparring with the state Democratic Party over the terms for his departure and multiple candidates began jockeying in the shadow campaign to replace him.

By the time Platner dropped out, his former ally and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, who had frequently campaigned alongside Platner and was also backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), had already filed the paperwork to run. Jackson’s former gubernatorial primary rivals Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah had also made not-so-subtle moves toward campaigns. Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban, who briefly ran for the seat last year, officially entered the race. Unsuccessful House candidates Paige Loud and Jordan Wood, as well as state Rep. Valli Geiger, another Platner ally, are also weighing running.

Platner, whose anti-oligarchy messaging generated significant excitement on the left, had pushed for the state party to commit to replacing him on November’s ballot with a progressive in his mold, arguing that doing so would be reasonable since he won last month’s primary with more than 150,000 votes, according to one of the people who spoke with POLITICO. But the party “refused to engage” with Platner’s requests, they said, leaving his campaign in the dark on next steps.

The same person said Platner shot his vertical, scorched-earth video more than four hours before releasing it. He waited to publish it on social media because his team wanted to lock in Platner’s entire staff for an all-hands call before news broke, the person said.

Platner spoke on that call around the time his video went live, expressing “a deep sense of gratitude” to his team for helping build a “working-class movement” and a desire for a “transparent” process for selecting his replacement, according to a person on the call who was granted anonymity to share details of the private discussion.

In the intervening hours between recording the video and the all-staff meeting, as Platner and his team huddled in Sullivan, Maine, on Wednesday afternoon, members of the state party’s committee governing body convened on Zoom to decide on a process to replace him.

The state party had feuded with the oysterman’s campaign for days: Campaign manager Ben Chin accused party leaders of allowing national Democrats to plan a succession process behind “closed doors” in a text to supporters midday Wednesday, while party officials slammed Platner’s team for what they saw as improperly trying to influence the process.

Chin was among the Platner aides who unsuccessfully urged the candidate to tone it down in his Wednesday night video, according to two of the people who spoke with POLITICO.

When state party committee members emerged from the Zoom meeting a bit after 7 p.m., they had a framework for a party convention to replace Platner later this month, with delegates to be selected from each county and a growing list of candidates vying for the nod. The general lack of details and prospect of a convention — rather than a caucus open to the public — left some progressives worried.

But the time for discussion was over.

The plan was in place, party leaders said, “if there is a vacancy to fill.” Less than an hour later, Platner gave them that opening.

Aaron Pelish contributed to this report.

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