An ex-girlfriend of Maine’s Democratic Senate hopeful, Graham Platner, has criticized the New York Times, accusing the publication of downplaying her allegations of “abuse” in its recent exposé.
Lyndsey Fifield provided an interview for the Times’ article released on Thursday, which scrutinizes Platner’s conduct towards women. This explosive piece comes as Platner is already embroiled in controversy over a sexting scandal.
The married politician from Maine has reportedly left negative impressions on women he dated in both Washington, D.C., and his home state. Platner confessed to exchanging inappropriate messages with several women after his 2023 marriage to Amy Gertner.
Currently, Platner is engaged in the fiercely contested Maine Senate race, where he aims to unseat the sitting Republican Senator, Susan Collins. These scandals have intensified the spotlight on his campaign, attracting bipartisan attention.
According to a recent poll conducted by Republican firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, Platner and Collins are tied, each securing 46 percent support from likely voters.
Fifield recounted instances where Platner became aggressive, especially under the influence of alcohol. While she clarified that he “never hit me,” she alleged that he often grabbed her shoulders hard enough to leave marks and once yanked her out of a taxi by her wrist during a disagreement.
Fifield, a conservative operative, also recalled an incident in which he twisted her arm behind her back, pushed her into a bedroom, and held the door shut, telling her to stay there until she was ‘calm.’
But now Fifield is accusing the Times of not telling the full story, claiming they ‘methodically delayed and twisted’ her story into a story she likened to ‘a gift to the Platner campaign.’
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine,has been accused of being abusive towards women by one of his ex-girlfriends, Lyndsey Fifield
Fiefield, shown here with Platner, dated the candidate on and off a gain from 2013 to 2015. She is now accusing the New York Times of twisting her account into ‘a gift’ for the Democrat’s campaign
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and his wife Amy Gertner
‘The Times also failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so,’ she posted on social media after the expose was published.
‘It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along,’ she continued. ‘The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign.’
She further accused the outlet of violating the trust of his victims and ‘shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.’
The ex-girlfriend penned several social media posts on Friday, claiming that she was told by the NYT reporters that the story would feature other women who claimed Platner sexually assaulted them.
But the exposé was void of any such claims.
‘After the story went up I began to ask them … wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault?’ Fifield wrote.
The story did include remarks from two of Platner’s other ex-girlfriends, but they stopped short of any sexual assault accusations.
Jenny Racicot, another of the Maine Democrat’s former lovers, said without elaborating that Platner ‘does not respect women.’
Graham Platner with his Nazi-linked Totenkopf tattoo, before he covered it up. He claimed he did not know the image’s historical ties to the Nazi party and the SS, but the NYT expose includes claims from his ex that he did indeed know the history of the tattoo
Platner’s Kik profile picture, viewed by the Daily Mail, showed the Democratic candidate posing shirtless and in only a towel. He admitted to sexting multiple women while married
A third anonymous lover was also quoted, but she simply claimed to be ‘collateral damage to the world that is his.’
He would also speak about ‘rape’ in an odd and disturbing way, Fifield claimed in the NYT piece.
‘He said this a lot: If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them,’ she recalled, he added the act would be not be in ‘a sexual way, not in a gay way.’
‘He was like, I would rape them to show them that I’m dominant,’ she said.
Fifield insisted to the Times that if Platner were running as a Republican, she ‘would be doing this exact same thing.’
‘I know it looks like a bitter ex-girlfriend Republican trying to take down a Democrat — it has nothing to do with that,’ Fifield said.
Platner’s campaign told the Daily Mail in a statement, ‘Let’s be very clear: This is a lifelong GOP operative who’s dedicated her career to electing Republicans.’
Racicot also described Platner’s behavior to the Times as ‘reckless’ and ‘unsettling.’
‘When I saw the old comments that he made online,’ she said, ‘I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.’
The third unnamed woman, a Maine Democrat, described the candidate as charismatic at times but also prone to heavy bouts of drinking.
The Daily Mail has contacted the New York Times for comment.
