Graham Platner is now the Democratic nominee for Maine’s U.S. Senate race. It’s been expected, as Maine Democrats are eager to find someone who can challenge Trump. They are supporting a man with Nazi tattoos, graphic social media posts, a sexting circus, and allegations of domestic abuse. If two words come to mind, it’s damaged goods. He also has a strange obsession with rape and wanting to attack a home intruder, but not in a gay way—the New York Times piece really detailed some of Platner’s bizarre quirks. It also revealed that he knew exactly what tattoo he was getting on his chest.
Ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield shared her story about dating the Maine hobby oyster wrangler, who only sells to her mother’s restaurant. It’s a detailed account of emotional abuse. Other women also came forward, but Fifield became the face of the story, even though she thought she was part of a group of stories, some of which were left out. She took to social media to vent her frustrations about how the publication butchered the article, betrayed her trust, and subjected her to vicious attacks from Democrats.
I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists.
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) June 5, 2026
As they left my home they asked that I not talk to any other outlets and I insisted then and repeatedly over the following weeks that I would keep my word…
In The Free Press, she wants to set the record straight and express her disapproval of Democrats attacking her for speaking out, revealing that the ‘believe all women’ trope is a political ploy that falls apart once liberals realize it might hurt their chances of flipping the Senate:
Overnight, the Times report and Fifield’s claims became more than just a major development in perhaps the most closely watched race of the 2026 midterm cycle. The story set off a debate about journalistic bias, double standards, and the behavior voters are willing to tolerate from candidates today.
Fifield is furious so many Democrats have dismissed her allegations. “The situation that I’m in right now feels like we’re in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” a visibly shaken Fifield told The Free Press at her home in Northern Virginia as her daughters darted in and out of the kitchen. “Has anything changed in the way that these stories are treated, when women come forward and people just put them into a gristmill and pick apart their lives?”
The day after the article ran, Fifield went on X to criticize how the Times journalists framed her story. She accused the paper of spending almost as much time detailing her conservative ties as they did on her descriptions of Platner’s alarming behavior. She told The Free Press that the Times didn’t include her most serious allegations of physical mistreatment until nearly halfway through the story.
When asked about these accusations, a spokesperson for The New York Times said the story “accurately presents each of these accounts as told to our reporters and according to our standards. We stand by our reporting of the accounts from Ms. Fifield and the other women, who provided a revealing look at the behavior of a major candidate for the U.S. Senate.”
Speaking at her kitchen table, Fifield said she was frustrated at how people reacted to the bedroom anecdote. As she told the Times, Platner held the door shut and told her to remain in the room until she was “calm.” Fifield eventually fell asleep and left in the morning, she said.
Fifield says people have suggested she instigated the fight or could have left the room if she wanted to. “I have seen a lot of people conjecture about it. I was 120 pounds. I absolutely could not have left if I wanted to,” she said. “At first I was fighting back, and then I had this primal sense that if I really kept forcing the issue and got that door open, I would not be safe.”
Fifield and Platner were romantically involved between 2013 and 2015. The Free Press reviewed diary entries as well as messages she sent to friends, describing the emotional turmoil she experienced during and after the relationship. In a July 2016 diary entry, Fifield wrote about breaking her lease in Washington, D.C., after the two split: “This jealousy used to scare me so much I literally MOVED to get away from him,” she wrote. “He didn’t want me but didn’t want anyone else to have me either.”
She told The Free Press that Platner privately wrestled with his time serving in the military overseas and spoke often about wanting to die in combat. Four of Fifield’s friends at the time said she confided in them that she was worried about Platner’s mental state.
Fifield’s former roommate, Caroline Lee, said she recalled Fifield telling her about Platner yanking her out of a cab after they lived together. Lee said she personally never felt unsafe around Platner, but remembered “feeling like this is somebody that I need to be cautious about, like I don’t want to find the edge of something that is a temper.”
The sexting aspect adds another layer to this circus of a campaign, and we also don’t know the ages of the women Platner was communicating with. The thing is, most of the Platter's bad press is coming from Democrat opposition research. The GOP has yet to fire its salvos. Your own party found all this dirt on you, Graham. You can see why Maine Democrats are uneasy.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member