Representative Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania said Friday that Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, has effectively disqualified himself from the race as a wave of new allegations over his conduct toward women continues to mount.
“I think it’s so distressing, all of the stories that are coming out, and they’re more and more it seems by the hour,” Dean told CNN’s Boris Sanchez. “I’m not a voter in Maine, but he has disqualified himself in my eyes.”
Platner, a progressive oyster farmer challenging incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, has faced controversy since his campaign launch. The latest revelations, published Thursday by The New York Times, include accounts from several former girlfriends who described his behavior as “unsettling” and, in one case, physically rough.
Lyndsey Fifield, a Virginia conservative who dated Platner from 2013 to 2015, told the Times that he referred to a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol as “my Totenkopf”—the German term for “death’s head”—before it became public last year. Platner has denied knowing the tattoo’s significance.
“There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was. These are the statements of someone who is politically motivated,” Platner told MS NOW on Thursday. He acknowledged “shortcomings” during what he called a “pretty dark period” after his Marine Corps combat service.
The allegations follow a Wall Street Journal report that Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women while married. His wife, Amy Gertner, discovered the messages in spring 2025 and brought them to the campaign, which dismissed the matter as private. Gertner has since defended her husband, calling media coverage “shameful.” Platner said the sexting ended when the couple married in November 2023.
Platner, seen as the frontrunner in the June 9 Democratic primary after Governor Janet Mills suspended her bid due to lagging polls, has refused to exit the race. Some Democrats, like Dean, are keeping their distance, but others are standing by him. Representative Ro Khanna of California issued a statement: “The behavior described in the New York Times story was wrong and toxic. Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. The people of Maine deserve a senator who is going to stand up to the billionaire class, against genocide, and for the working class.”
The controversy echoes broader Democratic debates about candidate accountability, as some party figures grapple with how to handle allegations against progressive standard-bearers. For more on Democratic dynamics, see our coverage of how Buttigieg has become a key Trump counterweight and the tough choices facing progressive Democrats on polarization versus winning back the working class. For more on Platner’s ongoing troubles, read our earlier report: Platner Faces New Allegations of ‘Toxic’ Behavior from Ex-Girlfriends.
With primary day approaching, Platner’s campaign faces an uphill battle to regain trust among Maine voters, even as he insists he will not step aside.
