Lyndsey Fifield, a former girlfriend of Democratic Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner who has accused him of “abusive, coercively controlling behavior,” has denounced the New York Times’ reporting of her and others’ relationships with him, calling the outlet’s published coverage “a set up all along.”
“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,” Fifield wrote early Friday on X. “Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.”
On Thursday, the New York Times’ Katie Glueck and Lisa Lerer published a wide-ranging account of “unsettling” behavior by Platner spanning over a decade alleged by several of his ex-girlfriends, including Fifield. The article states that the information included within it is based on interviews with over two dozen people, six of whom were women who had previously dated Platner.
Three of the women interviewed by the Times described a similar pattern of unsettling behavior, excessive drinking, blatant disrespect for women and constant infidelity. Only two of those women were named in the Times’ piece, including Fifield, while one spoke on the condition of anonymity. The article also contains defenses of Platner by three other women who dated him in the past and whose interviews with the Times were arranged by his campaign.
“Anyone who has ever extracted themselves from a relationship with a narcissistic abuser knows it isn’t clean or easy. I cringe remembering how many times I tried to play the ‘cool girl’ or fawn in response to what was clearly abusive, coercively controlling behavior by Graham,” Fifield wrote on X. “I also know how dangerous it is to become the target of a narcissist.”
Anyone who has ever extracted themselves from a relationship with a narcissistic abuser knows it isn’t clean or easy.
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) June 5, 2026
I cringe remembering how many times I tried to play the “cool girl” or fawn in response to what was clearly abusive, coercively controlling behavior by Graham.…
Fifield, whose conservative political leanings and history of working with right-wing think tanks is extensively noted in the Times’ report, claimed on Friday that she “absolutely never would have shared my story” if Platner had not been “relentlessly attacking my character behind the scenes for months.”
“In early April the New York Times came to me. I asked how they got my number. I said I was not interested in sharing my story,” Fifield recounted. “They said but wait—there are other women. Women terrified to tell their stories, too, and you need to band together. WE will help you. We will protect you. Men can’t keep getting away with this.”
“I told them my story. I let them take pictures of my diary pages. I sent them screenshots of messages and gave them phone numbers and contacts. It was excruciating,” Fifield continued. “I explained very clearly that, like many women abused by their partners, I had not told anyone about his violence at the time—I had covered for and defended it. I accepted his earnest apologies. They said that’s fine because the diary entries and my on the record story was enough.”
Fifield said she felt like she had to come forward because of “the guilt of staying silent.” She alleged that Glueck and Lerer “kept coming back,” demanding more screenshots and comments on the record. “I met every bench mark they set, eager to provide more sources or evidence as needed,” Fifield wrote.
“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)?” Fifield shared. “Why does it say ‘nobody could corroborate’ when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?”
“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?” Fifield’s tweets continued, noting that the journalists she spoke with told her their editors had said the evidence in question “was too much.”
“The Times also failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so,” Fifield additionally alleged.
TheWrap has reached out to the New York Times for comment.
Platner, who is married now, has been at the center of a number of controversies over the past few months, despite emerging throughout that time as the Democratic Party’s best chance to flip Maine’s senate seat. Most recently, outside of the latest allegations against him levied by Fifield and two other former partners of his, Platner was the subject of a scandal involving sexual messages sent to multiple women during his marriage.
Last year, the Democratic candidate was also caught in a controversy involving old, offensive Reddit posts and a tattoo on his chest linked to Nazi history. Platner has insisted he was not aware of the tattoo’s Nazi connections when he got it, while Fifield alleges in the Times’ story that he was making “my Totenkopf” jokes about it when they dated from roughly 2013 through 2015.
Platner has accused Fifield of being “politically motivated” in her accusations against him. Fifield has pushed back against that narrative.
“I know it looks like a bitter ex-girlfriend Republican trying to take down a Democrat — it has nothing to do with that,” Fifield was quoted telling the Times. “If he was running as a Republican, I would be doing this exact same thing.”
