{"id":684874,"date":"2026-06-05T00:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684874\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T00:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:28:09","slug":"maine-senate-candidate-graham-platner-rejects-new-allegations-of-abusive-behavior-us-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684874\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner rejects new allegations of abusive behavior | US politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate<\/a>, has rejected an explosive new report about his treatment of women, insisting that allegations of abusive behavior are \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d.<\/p>\n

Platner, a progressive running for election in Maine, was responding to a New York Times article<\/a> published on Thursday that included an interview with a Republican operative who accused him of womanizing, physical misconduct and making troubling comments about rape.<\/p>\n

The claims prompted fresh calls for Platner, 41, who has faced scrutiny over past social media posts and a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, to withdraw from next week\u2019s Democratic primary in Maine<\/a>, though he gave no hint of doing so.<\/p>\n

The New York Times said its report was based on interviews with more than two dozen people including Lyndsey Fifield, 40, whom the paper described as \u201ca Virginia conservative who has worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, Fifield dated Platner from about 2013 to 2015 and found him \u201ccavalierly contemptuous\u201d of women, adding that his offensive online posts \u201creminded me of just how much he hated women\u201d. In a 2016 diary entry, she described him as \u201cthe most toxic literally abusive man on earth who destroyed my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the article, Fifield alleged that Platner frequently grabbed her by the shoulders and once yanked her out of a taxi by her wrist. The article continued: \u201cDuring one argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn\u2019t get out, telling her to remain there until she was \u2018calm\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Times noted that Platner \u201cstrongly disputes\u201d any claims of physical intimidation or altercations, and said it could not independently corroborate Fifield\u2019s account of them.<\/p>\n

Fifield further recalled that Platner would sharpen an axe while watching TV, and left an AR-15 lying around in his Washington apartment. She said he described women as \u201chatchet wounds\u201d, a crude reference to female anatomy, and repeatedly asserted: \u201cIf anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them,\u201d adding that this would not be in \u201ca sexual way, not in a gay way\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fifield told the paper: \u201cHe was like, I would rape them to show them that I\u2019m dominant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifield also cast doubt on Platner\u2019s claim that he was unaware<\/a> that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol until it became the center of controversy last year. \u201cAfter all, she said, he had taught her the word for it years earlier, referring to it as \u2018my Totenkopf,\u2019\u201d the Times reported.<\/p>\n

Fifield previously worked for the Heritage Foundation, a rightwing thinktank in Washington that produced Project 2025, a blueprint for the second Donald Trump administration, and spent a brief spell on Republican Nikki Haley\u2019s 2024 presidential election campaign. She is now a visiting fellow<\/a> at a conservative group called Independent Women.<\/p>\n

Platner\u2019s campaign said in a statement: \u201cLet\u2019s be very clear: This is a lifelong GOP operative who\u2019s dedicated her career to electing Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times cited critical comments from two other women. Jenny Racicot, 41, a Democrat from Maine, who said she dated Platner from 2019 to 2021, told the paper: \u201cWhen I saw the old comments that he made online, I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third woman, also a Democrat from Maine, who wished to remain anonymous, echoed the accounts of heavy drinking and being unfaithful and said she felt like \u201ccollateral damage to the world that is his\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three other women who dated Platner gave more positive accounts to the Times, praising him as a caring and charming partner.<\/p>\n

Platner, a combat veteran, has previously apologized for social media posts and covered up the tattoo. He has spoken about dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that he linked to his time in the military.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday, he said: \u201cThroughout this campaign, I\u2019ve been open about what was a very dark period of my life where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I\u2019m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I\u2019ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Democrats remained silent. But John Fetterman, a senator for Pennsylvania who has frequently bucked the party leadership and emerged as a Platner critic, said: \u201cNo surprise. The interesting part will be how those who endorsed him will respond to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manu Raju, CNN\u2019s chief congressional correspondent, added on X<\/a> that Fetterman had told him Maine voters should switch to state governor Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign against Platner but remains on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Michael Trujillo, a Democratic strategist based in Los Angeles, posted on X: \u201cI don\u2019t know how Platner continues. He\u2019s lied to the country about his Nazi tattoo, physically harms women, doesn\u2019t respect them, there is nothing about this man that says \u2018yes represent me in the United States Senate\u2019 drop out, for the good of the country and most importantly yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans seized on the latest report. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on X<\/a>: \u201cWomen who dated Graham Platner say he was demeaning, volatile, physically threatening, \u2018cavalierly contemptuous\u2019 of women, and casually joked about his \u2018Totenkopf\u2019 Nazi tattoo. This is not one bad Reddit post. It is a pattern. And Democrats own every bit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delanie Bomar<\/a>, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said: \u201cEvery day brings another deeply disturbing revelation about Graham Platner. If he\u2019s willing to do this to his own girlfriend, imagine what he\u2019s willing to do in a position of political power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Platner traveled to Washington to meet several Democratic senators<\/a>, days after a disclosure that he and his wife have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he reportedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.<\/p>\n

If nominated, he would face the senator Susan Collins<\/a>, a Republican running for a sixth six-year term, in November. Defeating Collins is crucial to Democrats\u2019 attempts to regain control of the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate, has rejected an explosive new report about his treatment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-684874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}