Read the full article on KETV 7
‘These are lies’: Graham Platner, Senate candidate from Maine, responds to claims made by ex in New York Times report
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner claims one of his ex-girlfriends lied in a New York Times report that detailed several allegations against him regarding past relationships.
In a sit-down interview with sister station WMTW Friday morning, Platner denied allegations that go beyond not being a great boyfriend, such as engaging in an abusive relationship.
Advertisement
“I’m very happy to talk about incredibly uncomfortable things in my life,” Platner said. “But when things come along that are just made up or lies, I’m very much going to push back against those.”
The New York Times published the report on Thursday. The Times said it interviewed several women who were romantically involved with Platner in the past. Lyndsey Fifield, Platner’s ex-girlfriend, is heavily quoted in the article. She said Platner made her scared at times.
Fifield told The Times that Platner got rough with her, detailing one instance where the Senate hopeful allegedly shoved her into a room and kept her in there overnight.
According to The Times, Fifield said that Platner regularly grabbed her by the shoulders, sometimes hard enough to leave marks. She also claimed that on one occasion, Platner pulled her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.
Platner said that altercation and any other allegation of physicality are untrue. When asked why Fifield would make these allegations if they were false, Platner said Maine’s Total Coverage would have to ask Fifield herself.
“There’s an element of political motivation here,” Platner said.
According to The Times, Fifield worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns. Platner’s team calls her a “lifelong GOP operative.”
“I know it looks like a bitter ex-girlfriend Republican trying to take down a Democrat — it has nothing to do with that,” Fifield told The New York Times. “If he was running as a Republican, I would be doing this exact same thing.”
Platner has also responded to allegations Fifield made about his controversial chest tattoo.
According to Platner, he got a skull-and-crossbones tattoo in 2007 during his third deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps. Platner said it was not until October 2025 that he learned the tattoo resembled “Totenkopf,” a symbol that the Anti-Defamation League said was adopted by the SS, a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Platner claims he did not know the significance of the tattoo during the 18-year period and that he got it covered up within days of learning what it meant. Fifield, however, told The New York Times that Platner did know what the symbol tattooed on his chest meant and claimed that he would joke about it being a Nazi tattoo.
“I got a security clearance with the State Department, where I was also screened for gang and hate tattoos,” Platner said about the tattoo. “I’ve been taking my shirt off the whole time, going through life with a skull and crossbones on my chest.”
Fifield was not the only woman to share a negative experience involving Platner with The New York Times. Two other women are cited in The Times report. One recalled Platner’s “reckless behavior,” while the other pointed to his prior patterns of heavy drinking.
Three other women who had dated Platner and were interviewed by The New York Times shared positive experiences, saying he was a great boyfriend and that they never felt unsafe. The Times noted, however, that Platner’s campaign had arranged the interviews with the three women who spoke positively of him.
Maine’s Total Coverage asked Platner why voters should believe him. He said he is trustworthy because he has been open to talking about every controversy that has come up.
“Part of what I want people to see is that regular people go through life and face challenges,” Platner said. “Through those challenges, they will change. If you believe in transformational politics, which I do, you need to believe in the ability for people to transform.”
Platner seeks to secure the Democratic nomination through the primary election on Tuesday, June 9. If Platner succeeds, he will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins for the Senate seat she has held since 1997. Platner said he does not plan to drop out of the race.
On Friday morning, Fifield took to the social media platform X and claimed she was “set up” by the journalists who spoke with her for The New York Times report. She said The Times took quotes out of context and left out key details, including that she had allegedly confided in multiple friends over the years about Platner’s behavior “long before he was running for office.”
“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,” Fifield said in a post on X.
