For the second time this week, Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is dealing with one other main controversy simply days forward of the Maine main he’s poised to win.
On Thursday, the New York Occasions reported allegations of Platner’s “unsettling” conduct towards girls he dated, together with one declare that he was bodily abusive, which Platner denies.
Based on the Occasions, Platner’s then-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, stated that whereas they have been relationship a decade in the past, he “recurrently grabbed her by the shoulders — typically onerous sufficient to depart marks.” Throughout one argument, he “twisted her arm behind her again, shoved her right into a bed room, and held the door closed.”
In an interview with MS Now after the Occasions report was revealed, Platner denied Fifield’s claims. “There are some allegations on this piece that I simply wish to be sort of unequivocal about, are merely not true,” he stated.
Platner, a political novice and oyster farmer, has additionally insisted that he didn’t know a chest tattoo he received as a Marine whereas drunk in 2007 is a well known Nazi image. He has since had the tattoo coated up. However Fifield advised the Occasions that Platner did know its significance, and that he even joked about it.
“Something alleging physicality, something alleging that I knew what my tattoo was — these are the statements of somebody who’s politically motivated,” Platner stated within the interview.
Joe Raedle / Getty Photos 
In a press release to CBS Information, Platner stated: “All through this marketing campaign, I have been open about what was a really darkish interval of my life the place I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too usually self medicated with alcohol, and was a removed from good boyfriend. I take accountability for all of that, and need I had been higher. Any characterization past that’s false, and I imagine, politically motivated. I am not pleased with who I used to be then, however I’m pleased with the work I’ve executed since, and the motion we’re constructing in Maine.”
Fifield is a conservative who lives in Virginia and has labored for Republican campaigns and the Heritage Basis, a conservative assume tank, in keeping with publicly accessible bios. She stated she dated Platner from 2013-2015, and advised the Occasions that she has not been paid by a political marketing campaign or entity since she labored briefly for Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Platner additionally acknowledged he despatched sexually express textual content messages to different girls quickly after he married his spouse, Amy Gertner, in 2023. Gertner had disclosed the existence of the messages to the marketing campaign quickly after it launched. On Thursday, Platner advised MS Now: “Initially of our marriage, I made errors, and Amy held me accountable for them. And we labored by way of them.”
Maine’s Senate race is without doubt one of the most carefully watched within the nation — it is amongst a small variety of toss-ups that would decide who controls the Senate after the midterm elections this fall. The Democratic candidate will face off in November in opposition to GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who has represented Maine within the Senate because the Nineties and has a historical past of outperforming different Republicans within the more and more blue state.
Requested concerning the allegations within the Occasions story, Collins advised reporters on Friday: “The allegations within the newest story are troubling and I imagine that Graham Platner has lots of inquiries to reply.”
Platner confronted scrutiny from some Democratic senators when he visited them in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. Vermont Sen. Peter Welch advised CBS Information that throughout the assembly, he advised Platner that “he has the duty as a candidate to deal with the reputable questions that Mainers have, the private and political.”
Others have been standing by Platner. California Rep. Ro Khanna is planning to marketing campaign for the candidate at a get-out-the-vote rally in Maine Friday night time. In a press release, Khanna stated: “The conduct described within the New York Occasions story was improper and poisonous. Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. The individuals of Maine deserve a senator who’s going to face as much as the billionaire class, in opposition to genocide, and for the working class.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was one of many first to endorse Platner, at the same time as Democratic Chief Chuck Schumer backed Gov. Janet Mills earlier within the main. “All I can inform you is that the wealthiest individuals on this nation have now reserved near $100 million in TV adverts in a small state like Maine. So, what are the billionaires anxious about? Why are they spending a lot cash attempting to defeat this man? The reply is that he will stand as much as the oligarchs,” Sanders advised reporters forward of the assembly with Platner in D.C. on Tuesday.
Mills dropped out of the race in April, however her identify will stay on the poll in Tuesday’s main.
After the brand new allegations surfaced within the Occasions, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Senate Democrats marketing campaign arm, advised reporters: “We’re nonetheless doing Maine.” Gillibrand helped lead the cost to drive then-Sen. Al Franken out of workplace in 2017 after misconduct allegations.
Others say they will not help him. “He lied to everyone. He stated that there wasn’t any[thing] after his Nazi tattoo state of affairs. And now there’s increasingly of these items,” Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman advised CBS Information. “So I assume, you realize, it is like they are saying — for each ranch you see in Texas, there’s 50 that you have not seen.”
