Another ex-girlfriend accuses Graham Platner of nonconsensual condom removal

A second former girlfriend has accused Graham Platner of removing condoms during sex without her consent, intensifying scrutiny of the 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran who is the Democratic nominee in Maine’s 2026 U.S. Senate race. Platner is running against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a contest Democrats have cast as one of their most consequential Senate fights.

Lyndsey Fifield said Platner would remove the condom she asked him to wear and would do it without telling her, describing the behavior as sneaky. The allegation adds to a separate claim that Platner raped another former girlfriend in 2021. Platner has denied both allegations, and his campaign called them “categorically false and politically motivated.”

The fallout has moved quickly from accusation to political damage control. Bernie Sanders, one of Platner’s most visible allies, called on him to step aside after the rape allegation. At least three veterans organizations, including Veterans For Responsible Leadership, have withdrawn endorsements or urged him to leave the race. Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen had not withdrawn support as of the latest reporting.

Platner’s campaign had been built around his identity as an outsider, an anti-establishment Democrat with military credentials and working-class roots on Maine’s coast. That appeal now sits beside a far more damaging question about consent and power: whether a candidate who built a movement on trust can keep that trust after allegations that go to the basic terms of sexual consent.

The allegations also place “stealthing,” the nonconsensual removal of a condom during sex, into the broader debate over accountability in politics and law. The conduct sits in a gray area that often turns on consent, coercion and proof, and the Platner case has turned that ambiguity into a public test for how institutions respond when a high-profile candidate is accused of crossing that line.