Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is seeking to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, faced renewed scrutiny on Thursday after a lengthy New York Times report detailed allegations from several women who described him as volatile, and at times physically intimidating.
The account comes just days after a separate report noted he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women during his marriage. Both reports come just days before the June 9 primary, as Platner, a Marine Corps veteran and coastal Maine oyster farmer, where the Democratic candidate is pushing to take Collins seat in a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.
One of the women featured prominently in the Times report is Lyndsey Fifield. Here’s what we know about her.
Newsweek has reached out to Fifield and Platner for comment via email on Friday.
What Fifield Has Said About Platner?
In the Times report, Fifield is named as one of Graham’s previous romantic partners who dated roughly between 2013 and 2015 when Platner was living in Washington, D.C.
She reported various allegations, including that Platner’s controversial online comments “reminded me of just how much he hated women.” She also alleged that Platner knew his tattoo was associated with a Nazi symbol before it drew campaign scrutiny, saying he had taught her the word for the symbol and referred to it as “my Totenkopf.”
Totenkopf, or “death’s head,” is a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS. On the campaign trail, Platner has apologized for his tattoo, stating he was unaware of the tattoo’s meaning when he got it as a Marine in Croatia.
In the report, Fifield said that Platner could be physical with her, particularly when alcohol was involved. She said he often grabbed her shoulders, which at times left marks, as well as noting an incident where he yanked her out of a cab. She highlighted one instance when, according to the Times, he twisted her arm behind her and shut her in a bedroom, holding the door closed.
She noted he “never hit me, he never punched me,” but several instances left her shaken and afraid. The Times said it could not independently corroborate her account of the alleged incidents, which Fifield later criticized in a series of X posts.
Fifield also told the outlet that Platner spoke about rape as a form of power, recalling, “He said this a lot: If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them,” saying that he added that it would 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 wrote in a July 2016 diary entry reviewed by The Times, “the most toxic literally abusive man on earth who destroyed my life.”
Platner has pushed back on some of Fifield’s accounts. During an interview on MS Now with Chris Hayes Thursday, Platner was asked directly about the allegation that he had been physically threatening in a previous relationship. “Did that happen?” Hayes asked. “No, it did not,” Platner responded. He acknowledged that the report contained allegations about his past but firmly rejected claims that he had engaged in physical intimidation or abuse.
“There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who is politically motivated,” Platner said to Hayes in part.
Following the Times report, Fifield took to X, writing in one of the posts, “I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists.”
She continued, “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? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs dedicated to detailing my work history (more than has been published about Graham’s by far)? Why does it say ‘nobody could corroborate’ when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?”
The post went on, “Where were the screenshots they’d said they would use? Or the mention that I’d supported local democrats and that most of my family (and husband) are liberal?”
She concluded her post writing that the interview and story “was a setup all along,” adding, “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. Violating the trust of his victims.”
In a separate series of posts, she said the political climate at the time made it difficult for women to speak out about their experiences with Platner, adding, “People need to know they can and should speak up when they’re abused or when they see abuse—and know there will be no point scoring about what party affiliation they have.”
What We Know About Fifield
Fifield, 40, graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Literature from Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. She has spent more than a decade working in Washington, D.C. in a range of policy and communications roles.
Years after dating Platner, she married Matthew Collins in 2019. She has two young daughters.
Her biography at her most recent role says that she loves “motherhood, marriage, home birth, raw milk—but also Botox & Chick-fil-A,” and she dislikes, “Facebook groups for moms, gentle parenting, mommy bloggers.
She has around 40,000 followers on X.
Newsweek confirmed she has been a registered Republican since at least 2012, per voting registration records.
According to a 2018 New York Post article, Fifield and Inez Stepman, who at the time worked at the Independent Women’s Forum, co-founded a group titled Ladies for Kavanaugh, in support of the Supreme Court nomination for Brett Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation process was controversial as Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Ford later received death threats as a result of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation hearing.
Fifield told the outlet at the time that she had stayed quiet on the matter at first, “But in the wake of the baseless, 11th-hour accusations orchestrated to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation, we couldn’t stay silent anymore.”
Where Has Lyndsey Fifield Worked?
Fifield is currently a visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum, which the group confirmed to Newsweek. Prior to that she served in an array of digital marketing and political roles.
In 2023, she briefly served as a digital marketing director for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for two months. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, ran for president against Donald Trump in the 2024 election before dropping out in March.
Fifield was the digital marketing director for Stand for America, an advocacy group founded by Haley that “promotes freedom at home and strength abroad.”
Her longest stint, according to her LinkedIn, was at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that later authored Project 2025, a conservative playbook for the Trump administration. She served as a social media manager at the think tank for over six years, from September 2015 to April 2022.
Prior to that she worked at another think tank, the American Action Forum, which identifies as a “center-right think tank” focused on domestic economy policy.
Fifield also was a co-host of The LadyBrains a Ricochet podcast alongside other female conservative commentators which stopped airing in late 2021.
She spent about a year and a half at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, working on the foundation, Hiring our Heroes, which connects the military community with American businesses.
Fifield also worked for Craft, focusing on political campaigns, and served as the communications director for Republican candidate Ray McKinney in Georgia.
Platner’s campaign told The Times in a statement, “Let’s be very clear: This is a lifelong G.O.P. operative who’s dedicated her career to electing Republicans.”
“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 outlet. “If he was running as a Republican, I would be doing this exact same thing.” She also said she has no affiliation with Susan Collins’ campaign.
The Maine Senate Race
Maine is a politically competitive state that has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, with former Vice President Kamala Harris carrying it by about 7 points in November 2024 against President Donald Trump.
But the state has also shown a history of backing moderate Republicans, including Collins, who has repeatedly won reelection despite Democratic gains at the presidential level, as well as independents like Senator Angus King. The race has been labeled a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report.
National Democrats view flipping Collins’ seat—which she has held since 1997—as one of their best pickup opportunities on the map and a critical pillar in their strategy to win back the Senate majority in this year’s midterm elections.
After Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, suspended her campaign, Platner is believed to be the front-runner for the party’s nomination to match up against Collins, though David Costello remains on the Democratic primary ballot. Crucially for voters, because Mills withdrew late in the cycle, her name will still appear on the June 9 primary ballot. Platner is backed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
However, he has faced a steady stream of controversies on the campaign trail due to uncovered Reddit posts that included offensive language, racial remarks and comments about sexual assault, as well as his tattoo.
In addition to Fifield, other women who were previously in a relationship with Platner came forward, including Jenny Racicot, who said “this person does not respect women.” Racicot, who says she dated Platner off and on from 2019 to 2021, told the Times that Platner’s behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling,” alleging that he once arrived at her home drunk after she asked him not to come over.
One women who previously dated Platner for several months in 2013, Caroline Lemp, described Platner as a “gentle giant” to the Times.
Republicans have used the latest reports to deem Platner unfit for office, while many Democrats have either remained silent or continue to support Platner.