‘Gift to the Platner campaign’: Woman who accused Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner of abuse says the New York Times ‘twisted’ her account

Lyndsey Fifield is speaking out against a story published on June 4, 2026, alleging that the reporting on Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner was manipulated. Fifield, who has accused the candidate of physical abuse, said on X that the reporters “methodically delayed and twisted” her account.

She described the final article as “a gift to the Platner campaign,” and claimed the piece left out major allegations of sexual assault against Platner. Her public statement followed the publication of the New York Times piece, which examined claims made against Platner by several women.

According to Fifield, the Times reporters reached out to her in early April, after which she agreed to work with them. She wrote that she went against advice from her friends and set aside what she described as her conservative bias to fully trust the journalists, according to her posts on X.

Fifield’s concerns about how the published story was framed

According to Fifield, the reporters connected her with two other women who said they were victims, to help them feel less alone during the process. She said she met every benchmark the reporters set, providing screenshots and agreeing to go on the record, all while believing, she wrote, that they were doing the right thing, reports the New York Post.

Once the story went live, Fifield said she was left with several questions about why the final version looked the way it did. She said the article included 11 paragraphs about her own work history, which she felt was disproportionately more than the coverage devoted to Platner’s background. She also said she was frustrated that the story stated nobody could corroborate her account, even though she said she had provided sources who could have done so.

Fifield writes on X, “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.” Platner has apparently previously accused major outlets of journalistic malpractice over their coverage of him.

The New York Times story did quote two other women: Jenny Racicot, who was quoted as saying Platner “does not respect women,” and an anonymous source who described herself as “collateral damage to the world that is his”

Fifield claimed the focus of the final story was shifted away from the more serious accusations she had shared. She said she dated Platner from approximately 2013 to 2015 and had provided reporters with detailed accounts of alleged physical incidents.

These included allegations that Platner grabbed her by the shoulders, sometimes hard enough to leave marks, and on one occasion allegedly pulled her out of a cab by her wrist. She also described an incident in which she alleged he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door shut from the outside, allegedly telling her to stay inside until she was “calm,” according to the Times report.

Beyond the physical allegations, Fifield claimed that Platner exhibited misogynistic behavior, including allegedly using derogatory terms to refer to women, according to reporting by the New York Post. The candidate has faced other questions during his campaign, including a controversy over a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol.

She concluded her statement by writing, “It dawned on me that this really was 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. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.”

Platner, who is 41, appeared on MS NOW on the evening of June 4, 2026. During the interview with host Chris Hayes, he called Fifield’s claims “politically motivated” and said they are “simply not true,” according to the broadcast. He did acknowledge sending sexually explicit messages to multiple women following his 2023 marriage to Amy Gertner, saying the couple “dealt with it very, very early” in their relationship, according to his on-air statements.

According to the New York Post, Platner had an active account on the chat and hookup app Kik as recently as the week of June 5, 2026, with a profile picture appearing to show him wearing only a towel.