A second woman has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, claiming he repeatedly removed condoms during sex without her knowledge or permission, a practice classified as sexual assault in multiple countries and several U.S. states, including Maine itself.
Lyndsey Fifield, a conservative commentator who dated Platner from 2013 to 2014, told reporters that the candidate engaged in so-called "stealthing" approximately six times during their relationship. She said she confronted him repeatedly, and that he dismissed her concerns with a smirk.
The allegation lands on top of a separate, far graver accusation. On Monday, another ex-girlfriend, Jenny Racicot, publicly accused Platner of raping her in 2021. That charge triggered an avalanche of Democratic defections, from Senate leadership to the Maine Democratic Party itself, and left Platner's campaign in freefall.
Fifield described the alleged incidents as taking place in Washington, D.C., during a relationship that lasted roughly a year. She said she had told Platner she was not on birth control, making the alleged condom removal particularly reckless.
"He would pull condoms off. He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn't tell me."
When she confronted him, both during and after intercourse, she said, Platner treated it as a joke.
"He would act like cute about it, like 'Oh sneaky me.'"
Fifield said she initially discussed the allegations with The Washington Post in an off-the-record interview on June 20. She also disclosed the information to the New York Times in a separate off-the-record conversation at an earlier date. She chose to go public on Tuesday, she said, in part to show that Racicot was "not alone in experiencing issues with Platner involving sexual consent."
At least one close friend, Emily Zanotti, confirmed that Fifield shared the stealthing allegations with her after the relationship with Platner ended.
Fifield had also previously accused Platner of physical abuse, though the specific nature and timing of those allegations remain unclear.
The Platner campaign called the stealthing allegations "categorically false and politically motivated." In its denial, the campaign pointed out that Fifield had supported Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his contentious confirmation, an apparent attempt to cast her as a partisan actor.
That line of defense carries its own irony. Democrats spent years insisting that accusers deserve to be heard regardless of their political affiliations. Now a Democratic campaign is using an accuser's conservative views as grounds for dismissal.
The campaign did not address the substance of Fifield's specific claims, the number of alleged incidents, the timeline, or the corroboration from Zanotti. No arrests, charges, or legal proceedings against Platner have been reported in connection with either accuser's allegations.
Fifield's allegations are only the latest in a string of controversies that have dogged Platner's Senate bid. Before either sexual misconduct accusation surfaced, the candidate faced scrutiny over sexually explicit texts sent to multiple women, Reddit posts that minimized sexual assault, and a confirmed chest tattoo resembling a Nazi SS skull symbol.
He also accepted donations from billionaires including George Soros, $7,000, while publicly calling to "ban billionaires buying elections," as Newsmax reported. Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt described Platner bluntly on air: "He's a hypocrite. He's a phony. He again, he's some spoiled rich kid who's acting like he's something he's not."
Through much of that earlier turbulence, top Democrats stood by their man. Sen. Bernie Sanders, described as Platner's "most loyal advocate", and Sen. Elizabeth Warren both backed him. Warren once referred to Platner as "my kinda man."
That support evaporated after Racicot went public.
Racicot, 41, alleged that Platner entered her home without permission while intoxicated and raped her roughly five years ago. Fox News reported that her account was corroborated by a former boyfriend and emails with her therapist. She described a specific moment of realization during the encounter.
"I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, This is no longer my choice."
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand demanded Platner "immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate," threatening to pull all DSCC funding from the Maine race if he stayed on the ballot. The Maine Democratic Party itself called for his exit.
Sanders reversed course and joined the calls for withdrawal. Warren did the same, and was confronted on CNBC about her prior praise of Platner, a moment that captured the awkwardness of Democratic leaders who had championed a candidate they now wanted gone.
The speed of the reversal has been striking. Prediction markets now give Platner a 94 percent chance of exiting the race entirely.
The practice Fifield describes, nonconsensual condom removal, is classified as a form of sexual assault in Britain, Canada, and parts of Australia. In the United States, Maine, California, and Washington state have enacted laws that specifically address it.
The fact that Maine is one of only three states with such a law adds a layer of political significance. Platner is running for Senate in a state that has formally recognized the conduct his ex-girlfriend alleges as a legal violation. No legal action related to the stealthing allegations has been reported, and the alleged incidents took place in Washington, D.C., which is not listed among jurisdictions with stealthing-specific statutes.
The New York Post reported that Fifield's allegations span at least six incidents between 2013 and 2015, and noted that the stealthing claim compounds the earlier rape allegation in what has become a full-blown crisis for the Democratic campaign.
The open questions around Platner's candidacy keep multiplying. How did a candidate with a Nazi-associated tattoo, sexually explicit online posts, and billionaire hypocrisy survive the Democratic vetting process long enough to become the nominee? Why did Sanders and Warren wait until a rape allegation surfaced before withdrawing their support, when earlier red flags were already public?
Fifield's decision to go on the record suggests she believes the political environment has finally shifted enough for her claims to be taken seriously. She told reporters she wanted Racicot to know she was not alone. But her account also raises a harder question: how many warning signs did Democratic leaders need before they stopped vouching for this candidate?
The Platner campaign's defense, that Fifield is a conservative and therefore suspect, echoes the very playbook Democrats condemned during the Kavanaugh hearings. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony was treated by the left as inherently credible regardless of political context. Now a Democratic campaign is deploying the mirror-image argument against a conservative accuser.
Racicot herself has said she held back her sexual assault claim to protect her privacy, a decision that delayed the reckoning but did not prevent it.
The polling picture in Maine has shifted accordingly, with Sen. Susan Collins now holding a narrow lead over the scandal-plagued Democrat in what was once expected to be a competitive race.
Two women. Two sets of allegations. One candidate whose party spent years lecturing the country about believing women, until the accused wore their jersey.
Democrats didn't miss the warning signs on Graham Platner. They saw them and looked the other way, because they wanted the seat. The accusers are the ones paying for that calculation.
