A U.S. Senate candidate, Graham Platner, is facing renewed scrutiny following a second allegation of sexual assault. The new claims come after an initial report in The New York Times detailed allegations of "volatile and toxic" relationships from three women, but noted that abuse claims from one accuser could not be corroborated.
Lyndsey Fifield, described as a Virginia conservative who has worked for right-leaning groups, was the only woman to allege physical abuse in the Times report. She claimed Platner had shaken her by the shoulders, leaving marks, twisted her arm, and shoved her into a bedroom, refusing to let her out. The Times reported that while friends confirmed Fifield had an emotionally volatile relationship with Platner, they could not corroborate the specific physical altercations or controversial comments she described. The newspaper also reviewed diary entries from Fifield after the relationship ended.
This lack of corroboration led to dismissal of her claims by some political figures. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse commented that the report seemed like "a lot of nothing," pointing to Fifield's political affiliations as a reason for her allegations.
However, on Monday, Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine Democrat who had also dated Platner, told Politico that Platner sexually assaulted her in 2021. Racicot reportedly provided emails with her therapist discussing the attack and stated she confided in a boyfriend about the incident in 2023. Platner has denied this claim.
Racicot's accusation triggered a wave of retracted endorsements and calls for Platner to withdraw from the race, prompting a reconsideration of Fifield's earlier allegations.
Fifield suggested that the timing of the new allegation was strategic. She stated on X that the New York Times' emphasis on its inability to "corroborate" her story, despite speaking with friends, was intentional. Fifield claimed she provided the contact information for five friends to the Times, but reporters only contacted two who could confirm the timeline of their relationship, not the abuse itself. She alleged the newspaper did not contact three other friends who could have corroborated her account of abuse.
Emily Zanotti, a friend of Fifield's, told the Daily Mail that she could have backed up Fifield's story had The Times reached out. Zanotti stated Fifield confided in her contemporaneously about incidents that occurred during intimacy, including instances where Platner allegedly removed condoms without consent, which Fifield also reportedly told The Times off-the-record.
Platner's campaign called the allegations "categorically false and politically motivated."
Notably, Racicot was also mentioned in the initial New York Times article. At the time, she described Platner's behavior as "reckless" and "unsettling" but was not ready to come forward publicly, reportedly conflicted by Platner's politics. She stated that she decided to speak out after seeing how Fifield's claims were dismissed.
Zanotti further claimed that The Times had told Fifield that five other women were willing to speak about their sexual encounters with Platner, and that her account was presented as comparatively "tame." Zanotti questioned the whereabouts of these other alleged accusers, a point the Times has not publicly addressed.
In response to the ongoing scrutiny, The New York Times told The Daily Mail that their story "carefully reported what we could confirm at the time, was factually accurate and fair, and it alerted the public to important new information about a candidate for the Senate."