By Ted Cohen 

The Democrat from Maine whose Senate candidacy won pivotal early support from Vermont’s senior lawmaker quit the race Wednesday night in the wake of a rape allegation.

Graham Platner denied the sexual-assault claim as “false” but said it has “placed an immense amount of weight” on him, as he had until only Monday to decide whether to continue his candidacy.

Platner’s campaign won key early support from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, back when most party leaders chose an alternate candidate, Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

Sanders may have sensed the strength of Platner’s working-class appeal, which worked until it didn’t.

Platner trounced Mills in a primary election last month, beating her by 50 points.

Despite several scandals plaguing Platner’s campaign, he repeatedly put one foot in front of the other and continued maintaining an apparent lead on the Republican incumbent against whom he was running, five-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

But once a leading Washington news outlet published a piece Monday quoting a former girlfriend as saying Platner once raped her the end of the campaign was in sight.

The senior Vermont senator earlier this week dropped his support of Platner after the rape claim went public.

Even amid the allegation Sanders stuck with his guy, refusing to abandon Platner as party bosses insisted the rape claim was credible enough to make him unelectable. 

Sanders finally bowed to political pressure, joining the Democrat hierarchy in urging Platner to resign.

Platner said Wednesday night that if he continued his candidacy he’d lose his ability to raise money, access voter data and run a real campaign.