More unsavory news regarding Graham Platner.....

[a kennedy]

Several women who dated him say he shown unsettling behavior. Nicole is discussing it now.

[Justice]

1. 3 women, including 1 GOP operative who made serious accusations

Platner on Chris Hayes tonight.

[hlthe2b]

2. I've had bad feelings about him since the beginning of his primary run against Janet Mills...

and those vibes have gotten stronger over the past months. I certainly want us to defeat Collins, but I don't want another Eric Swalwell debacle.

[a kennedy]

3. and it's the talk of faux noise. Ugh......

[City Lights]

4. Of course it is!

While they ignore the rapist in the Oval Office.

[hlthe2b]

8. Exactly, but nonetheless we have to deal with it...Dems don't/can't ignore these issues.

[vapor2]

26. Excellent point ! And remember Al Franken

[Nixie]

5. I was thinking about Andrew Cuomo today since his

sister’s been on the shows, I guess about a book,

Thinking of Al Franken, too.

And they were both in elected office already.

[pat_k]

14. Franken should never have resigned.

New Yorker
The Case of Al Franken
Jane Mayer
July 22, 2019

https://web.archive.org/web/20190829044419/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken

[Nixie]

46. Thanks for the article

Agreed, he should never have resigned.

[pat_k]

47. Jane Mayer is an awesome investigator.

It seems to me that everything she writes is top notch. I always pay attention to what she puts out there.

[MichMan]

6. One said he was well aware it was a nazi tattoo

[LisaL]

10. Here is NYT article describing his dating history.

Per one of the exes, he knew exactly what the tattoo was and why he got it. I personally don't believe for a second he didn't know what it was.

"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."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html

[Nanjeanne]

11. Yes one did. Although no one can corroborate that. And when she mentioned recently it she also said she

Would vote for Collins. Of course, she told the NY Times it was a joke when she put that in writing.

[LisaL]

12. Per NYT, she was posting on the internet that he had a nazi tattoo months before he acknowledged having it.

Would you not count that as a corroboration?

[pat_k]

7. New blood is a good thing, but people who have never run for anything cannot be consider fully vetted.

This is definitely a "rough patch" for his campaign.

I for one hope he can weather it because chances of winning the Senate improve if he pulls it out.

And Susan Collins needs to go.

[Volaris]

43. I kinda dont like it either, but heres the thing:

Trump and the GOP, whether they meant to or not, have given us a playing field equivalent to Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy.

That means, we get to play EVERYWHERE, but it ALSO means we have to play the ball as it lays. And what was the motto of that strategy, anyone remember? Bueller? BUELLER??

'First, get democrats elected. Then, get BETTER democrats elected.

I'll take Planter, asshole tattoo and all, if it means we get to start putting these fucking criminals under oath where they belong.

The caveat is, i don't live in Maine and you all have to do you (but seriously, consider the alternative is another 6 YEARS of Senator Concerned).
Cheers, and Happy Voting!

[pat_k]

45. "we have to play the ball as it lays"

I live in WA, so I don't have an actual say, but I will do my bit to put the choice in crystal clear relief. (And I will probably throw my vote of confidence in the form of a few dollars his way.)

And this is the choice as I see it.

You can choose to view his life as a quintessentially America story of redemption and reform. A progressive spirit rising out of a past in which he got a nazi tatoo and dealt with anger issues and alcohol abuse (and the attendant terrible interactions with those near and dear).

You can choose to view him as someone you are so sure has not *really* reformed that you would vote for Collins (or not vote), and thereby vote to keep control of the Senate in the hands of the Trumpublicans.

If the latter, you better be so confident that Platner is so irredeemably screwed up that you would rather ensure the most dangerous man ever to have occupied the WH continued to be unchecked by a Trumpublican Senate than see him voted into the Senate.

I know where I come down.

[Nanjeanne]

9. I read the whole long NY Times article and still feel like this is a troubled man who had a past that

He has acknowledged as poor behavior. But keep feeling if this is what they came up with after working and trying so hard I personally can’t get that worked up about it. It seems like so much focus being made to take this guy down. And im much more interested in taking Susan Collins down.

He was a terrible boyfriend. And a bad husband who decided to work on that. He had anger issues. He drank too much. Stuff he’s acknowledged.

They spoke to 3 women he previously dated during different times - none more recently than 2016. The only “serious” allegation — if you want to call it that is one said Platner knew what his tattoo stood for. She is Lindsey Fifield, a conservative activist who met him when he was a student at George Washington University. Their roughly two-year, on-again, off-again relationship, as Ms. Fifield described it, was heady and passionate. She said re tattoo that he had taught her the word for it years earlier, referring to it as “my Totenkopf.” She also described volatile arguments where they got physical but never hitting etc. She was quick to note that he “never hit me, he never punched me.” Also per NY Times, no person could corroborate this.

“A friend who knew Mr. Platner and Ms. Fifield during that period said the comments sounded out of character.” And The Times reviewed texts between Ms. Fifield and Mr. Platner, along with Google Chat exchanges, texts and Facebook messages between Ms. Fifield and her friends during and after the relationship. The Times also reviewed some of Ms. Fifield’s diary entries from after the relationship had ended, and spoke with two of her friends who confirmed that the pair had an emotionally volatile relationship but could not corroborate the physical altercations or the most controversial comments she described.

Re Tatto -

In a private chat group last summer, months before Mr. Platner acknowledged the tattoo himself, Ms. Fifield told friends that her ex-boyfriend-turned-Senate candidate “has a Nazi tattoo on his chest.”

“It’s a Totenkopf,” she told them on Aug. 20, according to a screenshot she shared with The Times. “An actual one.”

“I will personally go campaign for Collins,” she wrote. Two of her friends reacted with a crying laughing emoji. The comment was a joke, Ms. Fifield told The Times.

The Times also spoke to 3 women he dated who did not have the same experiences but their quotes are at very bottom of article.

As I’ve said before… he is a flawed candidate. But the gusto that the media is displaying in trying to find things — and this is what they got — only makes me angry with the real sexual predators out there, and the demeaning and disgraceful and mean policies being advocated and supported by Susan Collins — there is so much scrutiny on Graham Platner. As he has said…

“I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” he said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.”

Gift link. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nlA.wqrh.qsFXZJJ3jQ-d&smid=nytcore-ios-share]

[LisaL]

13. Per NYT, she was posting on the internet that he had a nazi tattoo,

before he acknowledged having it. I think it's pretty clear she didn't make that up. She also said other people in his unit got the exact same tattoo to symbolize that they were killers, similar to SS. Seems easy enough to check if the others have the exact same tattoo.

[Nanjeanne]

16. Yes she did a few months before which is when she said she would vote for Collins. My ?

is why did he only tell her about it. Not a single other woman. If he was so proud he gave it a name why not let his other lovers in on it? And if Nazi tattoos are outlawed in the service, what about all his friends that got it at the same time and were also in the service.

Just some questions. But honestly there is nothing in his recent past that gives me, a Jew, concern re any antisemitism. Nothing. Far more frankly worried, as a Jew and with Israeli family who has spent much time in Israel, about the blind trust of Israel and its war mongering with Bibi.

[LisaL]

18. Platner himself voted for Collins more than once.

So I am not sure why voting for Collins is suspicious.

[Nanjeanne]

19. Ok. In the text about saying he had a Nazi tattoo she said she would vote for Collins. And as a

co servati e activist I dont doubt she would. Why she said she was only kidding to the NY Times I have no idea.

Suspicious? I have questions which I enumerated.

[LisaL]

21. It sounds like he was a lousy cheating boyfriend, at least to some of his ex-girlfirends.

Given that, are you really surprised if his ex-girlfriends are not going to vote for him?

[Nanjeanne]

22. You betcha. I wouldn't date him.

[LisaL]

24. He doesn't sound like a prize as a husband either.

[questionseverything]

17. Forward marine units are "killers", you need to look up the definition for

“Similar “

[pat_k]

15. I'm of the same view.

The thing is, he will be the nominee in a few days.

I will be pulling for him in the general. (I live in WA, so have no say). I have trouble imagining a skeleton big enough to make Susan Collins and lower chances of Dems winning the Senate a "better" option.

I could be wrong about him. He could win and implode in office, but Susan Collins will be gone.

And, if he did implode, and Shah (or whoever gets the nod on the 9th) wins the governorship, we'd have a Dem appointed until a special election.

[EdmondDantes_]

20. You don't consider yanking women around and blocking them in a room serious?

Because that's abusive behavior.

And the most recent of the women dated him from 2019 to 2021, so that part of your defense is incorrect.

The New York Times cited critical comments from two other women. Jenny Racicot, 41, a Democrat from Maine, who said she dated Platner from 2019 to 2021, told the paper: “When I saw the old comments that he made online, I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/04/graham-platner-maine-new-york-times-report

[mcar]

25. That is not the "only" serious allegation

This is:

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 argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was “calm.” Eventually, Ms. Fifield said, she fell asleep and left the next morning.

“It hurt,” she said. But she added: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

[Nanjeanne]

28. Yes she said it. Times couldn't corroborate. No friends of hers could either. All reported deep in article.

Also friends of both of theirs said it was a volatile relationship but that seemed out of character for him. But yes she said it.

In full disclosure once my husband of 45 years and I were fighting in a car and I wanted to get out and tried to open door at a red light. He grabbed my arm. It hurt but we made up by the time we got home.

[mcar]

30. So she's lying?

Or is it OK for a man to "manhandle" a woman and leave bruises?

I must say I'm finding it quite distressing that Democrats on this board are willing to overlook not only these allegations, but also the well proven instances of his misogyny and racism.

Let's recall that he has blamed women for their rapes if they'd drank alcohol, but excuses his Nazi tat and poor behavior because he was drunk.

Boys will be boys, right?

[LisaL]

31. Misogyny is alive and well.

I am afraid. And not just overlook, we have some posters demanding we ignore all these red flags.

[mcar]

33. Telling us to move on. Leave it alone

It is nauseating.

[LisaL]

36. Yep.

We gotta just accept all these issues, before this individual is even nominated.

[Nanjeanne]

32. No. If it had been me and it happened I would have been gone. Never ok. No other girlfriend had that

experience. Did it happen back when they were in a volatile relationship but that she says so. He says no. Me? Don’t care. He’s been open about his troubles and trying to be a better man. Hopefully that’s transformative. Sorry, it’s not disqualifying to me. I trust he wouldn’t have voted for Kavanaugh - a real rapist.

[LisaL]

34. I am not sure he is succeeding at being a better man.

And of course compared to Trump I am not sure what could possibly be disqualifying. But that is a very low bar.

[mcar]

35. Wasn't that long ago he was blaming women for their rapes

using the "R" word as a slur - the list goes on.

I appreciate if he's actually trying to be a better man, but maybe he should have done that first before running for one of the highest offices in the country.

[Nanjeanne]

37. Yes I believe he addressed that. My suggestion -- don't vote for him. Though I much prefer him in Senate

than Collins.

[mcar]

38. He addressed what?

I don't live in Maine. I realize that some here think I should just STFU. Many of those don't have a problem constantly slamming our elected Democrats but for some reason Platner cannot be criticized for any reason whatsoever.

[Nanjeanne]

41. Addressed his old Reddit comments. Talks openly of his anger, his self medication with liquor, etc.

I believe everyone deserves to weigh in on all candidates so I would never tell you to butt out. I don’t live in Maine but I’d definitely vote for him if I were there. But my vote isn’t yours. So if you aren’t in Maine but need to drag him down based on this - fine. We all get to support candidates or not in whatever way we want. Democracy.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

48. No kidding

Interesting dynamic. I wonder why that is.

Edit: "Need to drag him down"?? He's dragged himself down with lies, Nazi tattoos, and a lengthy list of nasty comments about women, the mentally challenged and POC, and who knows what else.

Some of us find that unacceptable.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

52. I wonder if ANYONE else has made that connection?

"...he has blamed women for their rapes if they'd drank alcohol, but excuses his Nazi tat and poor behavior because he was drunk."

Yes. Boys will be boys. Always have been, always will be.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

51. See? Not that bad

He didn't break her arm.

[mcar]

23. Some clips from the NYT article

And yes, one of the women is conservative but another is a Democrat. Are we still sticking with "boys will be boys" here?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html

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.”

[EX500rider]

49. Yeah the tattoo thing seems to have been flat out lying to the press that he had no idea what it was.

She is not the 1st one to say he called it a Totenkopf either.

[Nanjeanne]

50. Who else? Maybe her podcast partner, conservative Bethany Mandel from Heritage Foundation and Moms

for Liberty and her friend of more than 15 years? Hadn’t heard anyone else.

[EX500rider]

53. When it was first reported months ago

They talked to one of his guy friends who said he referred to it as his "Little Totenkopf" years earlier.
Search back to the earlier post here on du about it it's in there.

So the choices are he either lied about knowing what it was or he's too stupid to know what a tattoo he had on chest for almost 20 years was, which I find unlikely.

[applegrove]

27. Janet Mills is still on the ballot I think. This guy reminded me of Fetterman... the vibes.

Now I think he is much worse a person. RUN away from him!!!

[obamanut2012]

39. She is, and said she's still running

[Rhiannon12866]

29. Here's Nicolle Wallace's report:

BREAKING: Several women recall 'unsettling' experiences with Graham Platner per New York Times - Deadline - MS NOW
https://www.democraticunderground.com/132173536

[Miami Blue]

40. Platner has made his missteps in the past

However, after listening to him tonight, I like him even more because his candor was extremely appealing and refreshing.

[UpInArms]

42. Blah blah blah

Just stop

Omg …

This is absolutely wearying

Please quit juicing the guardians of pedophiles crap, okay?

[MorbidButterflyTat]

44. Some guy on Chris Hayes:

"The morality of the Senate is not something that's gonna be brought down by the addition of Graham Platner."

A glowing testimonial.

The US should never have been in the position for this election to matter SO MUCH.


"David Costello (D) supports Medicare for All. Short of that, he supports ongoing Democratic efforts to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act."

Too bad Bernie chose to boost Platner over David Costello. He sounds like a decent, politically experienced man.

https://mainemorningstar.com/voter-guides/contests/2026-democratic-primary/