Graham Platner has faced numerous public relations disasters. He has a Nazi tattoo, countless graphic Reddit posts—some mocking wounded veterans—and now a sexting scandal. The oyster farmer also has an account on Kik, a reported hub for pedophiles. Despite all this, which would have derailed any other candidate, Senate Democrats decided to rally around him after meeting in DC on Tuesday.
NEW from me
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 3, 2026
Graham Platner praised Nazi-allied soldiers in a now-deleted Reddit posthttps://t.co/Bq7r9wff7p
Starting to think this guy knew what his tattoo was…
— Burt Macklin (@BurtMaclin_FBI) June 3, 2026
The less discussed part is that the negative press about Platner mostly comes from the Democratic Party's opposition research. It’s only June. Now, we have allegations concerning his past treatment of women that The New York Times described as "unsettling." Oh, and not for nothing, but it's also clear that he knew exactly what tattoo he was getting. The New York Times' story was reportedly delayed by Platner's lawyers (via NYT):
Infuriating behavior from Maine Democrat Graham Platner
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 4, 2026
“But she said he regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks — and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.”
“During one…
GRAHAM PLATNER BOMBSHELL DETAILS
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 4, 2026
- Knew tattoo was a Nazi symbol — called it "my Totenkopf"
- Unit picked SS death's-head on purpose: "they were killers"
- Joked about it being a Nazi tattoo while dating
- 3 exes: "toxic," demeaning, heavy drinking, cheating
- NYT story delayed… pic.twitter.com/hYAbb3HJE6
Rumors were spreading from Portland to the Potomac about Mr. Platner’s messy personal life, after news reports that he had sent sexual messages to women while married. Democratic senators were pressing him about whether more damaging revelations were coming. Journalists were swarming, staking out his hometown.
Amid the turmoil, Mr. Platner worked the phones, rolling through calls to ex-girlfriends who might publicly acknowledge that while he may have been a bad boyfriend, he was, in fact, a decent guy.
In interviews with The New York Times on Wednesday, several women did just that, describing Mr. Platner as a fun and caring partner, and saying they felt safe with him. Some remain friends with him to this day, years after their relationships ended.
But in extensive conversations over the past two months, three other women who had been romantically involved with Mr. Platner offered a far more complicated assessment, describing volatile and “toxic” relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.
Mr. Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and, in at least one case, even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful.
[…]
Lyndsey Fifield, 40, a Virginia conservative who has worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns, recalled him as “cavalierly contemptuous of women’s emotions, of our ‘weakness.’” Ms. Fifield, who dated Mr. Platner from roughly 2013 to 2015, said that his offensive online posts “reminded me of just how much he hated women.
Jenny Racicot, 41, a Maine Democrat, who said she dated him casually off and on between 2019 and 2021, said the posts deepened her belief that he did not respect women. “When I saw the old comments that he made online,” she said, “I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.”
Some of the women also raised questions about his trustworthiness. Mr. Platner’s insistence that he did not know that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol until it became a campaign issue last fall was simply not true, Ms. Fifield said. After all, she said, he had taught her the word for it years earlier, referring to it as “my Totenkopf.”
[…]
This article is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including six women who had been romantically involved with Mr. Platner. The Times spoke with friends or acquaintances of several of the women, reviewed contemporaneous text and social media messages and saw some of Ms. Fifield’s diary entries. Mr. Platner declined to be interviewed for this article.
The women who described difficult relationships with Mr. Platner knew him at different points of his life. Ms. Fifield said she dated him starting when they were both in their late 20s in Washington, during a time Mr. Platner has described as challenging. Ms. Racicot knew him in Maine when they were in their mid-30s and he was living in Sullivan, Maine, and working on his oyster farm.
The third woman, a Democrat from Maine who spoke on the condition of anonymity, had a long-distance relationship with Mr. Platner on and off for years, as recently as 2016.
The three described him in similar terms. Spending time with him could be exhilarating, they said. But they also recounted patterns of heavy drinking and womanizing. Asked to sum up how he treated her, the third woman said she felt like “collateral damage to the world that is his.”
Recommended
Platner physically abused every single woman that came into his life, and now his wife's hostage video makes a lot more sense.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 4, 2026
It all speaks to integrity, which, while sounding trite, is starting to chip away at his numbers, which we'll get to in a second. But the Democrats have now boxed themselves into defending a man with Nazi tattoos, who might also be a serial liar and an emotional abuser of women. They sure know how to pick them, huh? Also, NYT, yes, you covered a story that put a Democrat in a bad light. You also did your thing with burying the lede:
The NYT did a huge disservice to Lyndsey in how they packaged the story about Graham Platner.
— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) June 4, 2026
What she describes is physical abuse, and they buried it 22 grafs deep under a headline describing "unsettling behavior."
Platner allies already dismissing this as a nothing burger pic.twitter.com/3QcFWKtva6
Platner knew in advance that this information would be published. Also, and not that you didn’t know already, Platner racing home Tuesday night wasn't because reporters were showing up at his in-laws' homes.
Keep in mind that these are the beginning of the accusations, not the end. They get worse. https://t.co/Uj3jNNr0U9 but Democrats are locking in with Platner even though the primary hasn’t happened yet.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 4, 2026
Is this Eric Swalwell territory? No, there haven't been any allegations of sexual assault...yet? Is there more? I think we can assume that there is, but Platner is certainly being accused of emotional abuse. Also, Platner said he got the Nazi tattoo since it was relevant to what his military unit was doing:
Mr. Platner, she said, knew when they were dating years ago that the tattoo was a Nazi symbol, and that he called it “my Totenkopf.”
“I would never have known what that was,” she said. “He would joke about it being a Nazi tattoo.”
Ms. Fifield said he told her that he and other members of his unit selected the tattoo because “they were like a death unit, they were killers,” and saw a parallel between their unit and the Nazi Schutzstaffel, or S.S., unit, that used the skull-and-crossbones image.
“They literally, deliberately, selected it because it was relevant to their military unit,” she said.
Mr. Platner also had a fascination with rape, which his campaign did not refute:
A couple takeaways...Platner allegedly referred to women as "hatchet wounds" (crude remark re: their physical anatomy) and allegedly said if anyone ever broke into his home he would rape them to assert dominance, but "not in a gay way". Platner campaign doesn't dispute the…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 4, 2026
He had what she described as a “warrior ethos” and would fantasize about killing people he deemed a threat, she said. She said he told her that rape was about power.
It was something that stuck with her through the years, Ms. Fifield said.
“He said this a lot: If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them,” she recalled, 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.
Asked about those remarks, a Platner campaign official did not dispute them.
I don’t know how Platner continues. He’s lied to the country about his Nazi tattoo, physically harms women, doesn’t respect them, there is nothing about this man that says “yes represent me in the United States Senate” drop out, for the good of the country and most importantly… https://t.co/XMZltXnQbs
— Michael Trujillo (@mikehtrujillo) June 4, 2026
While not the main point here, Platner’s backstory is also weak, with claims that he bought a home using loans from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was actually given $200,000 by his father, which isn’t illegal, but you can’t claim to be a fighting-class worker; no working-class family has that much disposable income just lying around. Most Americans don’t earn that much in a year. His oyster farm is also insignificant to his finances, with most of his income coming from VA disability benefits. It’s as if Mr. Platner is not just serially dishonest but also a complete nightmare, yet Democrats have nowhere to turn. They can’t remove him like Swalwell because the options are poor, so they’re doubling down on a race they can’t win.
Bernie Sanders defends Graham Platner's conduct to CNN
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 2, 2026
Sanders: "Is he a saint? I guess not. I don't know too many saints here." pic.twitter.com/shUAncEXF1
🔵 Chuck Schumer "I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate." pic.twitter.com/WTvzpHio0L
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) June 2, 2026
The Platner campaign released its internal polls recently. They're not good; they've shown a steep decline in support since the sexting fiasco. Also, it's kind of odd to turn a statistical tie into some victory lap.
Graham Platner leads Susan Collins by 4 points in an internal...
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) June 3, 2026
Independent polls had him up 9 points before the sexting scandal.
Big drop in support.
If you think people don't care about character... you're wrong. https://t.co/pnKhj2xGaI
An internal poll showing +4 is not super reassuring given that internal polls typically exaggerate their candidate's standing by 4 points or so. And that's smaller than Platner's lead in most public polls before. https://t.co/prFYCKplgq
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 3, 2026
It is stunning that the Platner campaign would release this.
— Yesh Ginsburg (@yesh222) June 3, 2026
They show his own lead has shrunk to +4 (he was winning by 6-9 in his earlier polls), and to do it they had to give negative statements about both candidates to even it out. This is a disaster. https://t.co/iP1aaCoC1a
Exit question: I repeat...is this over? I don't think so. We could have more coming.
Keith Edwards who also broke the news about Swalwell's sexual assault scandal a day before
— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) June 4, 2026
Says the NYT is about to run a story that Platner sexually assaulted a woman. pic.twitter.com/I0QElKjjlj
Keith Edwards says “more than one woman” are accusing Graham Platner of SA.
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 4, 2026
The Washington Post is also racing to get the Platner sexual assault story out as well.#MaineSenate https://t.co/8LFp4SPrMK
FWIW Edwards also broke the news about Swalwell’s sexual assault scandal a day before the news media started reporting on it. https://t.co/57XmZCEpgp pic.twitter.com/1m9WVS7Tvh
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 4, 2026
NYT: Was expected to publish last night, was delayed by Platner’s lawyers. Story is about his ex GF alleging some kind of assault. He would block her from exiting rooms with his size, she would be frightened. Uncontrollable fits of anger. She called friends and family,… https://t.co/WkhmCzpudg
— Michael Trujillo (@mikehtrujillo) June 4, 2026
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