Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) responded to a recent report in the New York Times revealing that several ex-girlfriends of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner described his behavior as “disturbing.” Collins called the allegations against Platner “troubling.”
in a video shared in X by WMTWTV News reporter Connor Clement, Collins was asked his reaction to the New York Times report. Collins said Platner “has a lot of questions to answer.”
“His alleged rival in the November election, Graham Platner, another scandal – I guess you would say, coming to light in the New York Times yesterday. What is your reaction? the journalist asked. “Have you had a chance to read the story? What is your conclusion?”
“The allegations in the latest story are concerning and I think Graham Platner has a lot of questions to answer,” Collins responded.
When Collins was asked if the allegations in the New York Times The report “would cost him votes,” he admitted that it depended “on the people of Maine.”
Three women, who had been involved in “romantic relationships” with Platner for several years, told the outlet about cases in which they saw alleged “patterns of excessive alcohol consumption and womanizing”:
Lyndsey Fifield, 40, a Virginia conservative who has worked for right-wing groups and Republican campaigns, recalled it as “an arrogant disregard for women’s emotions, for our ‘weakness.'” Ms Fifield, who dated Mr Platner from around 2013 to 2015, said his offensive posts “reminded me how much he hated women”.
Jenny Racicot, 41, a Democrat from Maine, who said she dated him occasionally between 2019 and 2021, said the posts deepened her belief that he did not respect women. “When I saw the old comments he made online,” she said, “I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.”
One woman, Lyndsey Fifield, a conservative who “met Mr. Platner in 2013” while he attended George Washington University, shared with the outlet how, while Platner “could be hard on her,” he “never” hit or hit her. Fifield reportedly shared how Platner allegedly “regularly grabbed her by the shoulders, sometimes so hard he left marks.”
Fifield also shared with the outlet how, in one instance where they had been arguing, Platner allegedly “twisted her arm behind her back, pushed her into a bedroom, and held the door closed on the other side so she couldn’t get out.”
Another woman, Jenny Racicot, a Democrat who dated Platner “casually from time to time between 2019 and 2021,” shared with the outlet that in one case, Platner “came home drunk, after she asked him not to come.”
The report of the New York Times comes after another for him Wall Street Journal discovered that Platner’s wife had admitted in her campaign that he had sent sexually explicit text messages to other women early in their marriage. He Wall Street JournalThe report also shared that Platner had an “active account on Kik, a popular private messaging app,” with a profile photo showing him “shirtless and with a towel wrapped around his waist.”
