Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, flagship ABC newscasts World News Tonight and Good Morning America refused to mention new disturbing allegations from Graham Platner ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield, who shared new instances of verbal abuse and said he repeatedly had unprotected sex without her consent. Instead, ABC chose to only continue emphasizing the rape allegations from Jenny Racicot, another ex-girlfriend of the Maine Democrat candidate. GMA spent three minutes on Platner, but couldn’t find a single second to mention Fifield. Perhaps it’s because Fifield is a conservative and Racicot a progressive? Perhaps, considering ABC seemed particularly concerned about the fallout for it’d imperil the Democrats’ chances in Maine. Co-host Michael Strahan huffed in a tease about an “exit strategy” to influence “the scramble to replace him” “as his campaign collapses.” “We’re going to go now to the growing pressure on Democrat Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race after a woman accused him of sexual assault. Platner is being urged to step aside in a critical race for Democrats, hoping to take control of the Senate,” he later said in cuing up D.C.-based correspondent Jay O’Brien. BIAS BY OMISSION: Wednesday’s ‘Good Morning America’ spent three minutes on Graham Platner, but not one second on the new allegations @LyndseyFifield spoke about with CNN and The Washington Post pic.twitter.com/PALdlH7sql — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 O’Brien relayed that while Platner “is still in the race....his campaign now confirming it’s discussed a possible exit strategy with Democratic leaders in that state and that already leading to a clash” about the future of “a race that could decide control of Congress.” Notice O’Brien’s almost singular focus on process, not how awful of a human being Platner is (click “expand”): O’BRIEN: Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign collapsing around him, setting off a scramble to try to replace him on the ballot after an allegation of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend, which he denies. RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: I looked at him, and I remember this very specific look in his eyes, and I could smell alcohol, and I was, like, this is different. O’BRIEN: And this morning, several state Democrats now jockeying to take Platner’s place and challenge Maine’s longtime GOP senator, Susan Collins. Under Maine law, Platner has just five days to drop out to be removed from the ballot. State Democrats would then have two weeks to select a new candidate, but there’s no exact roadmap for how that process would go overnight. The executive director of the Democratic Party of Maine saying Platner team has reached out, accusing them of trying to dictate the next steps. MAINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEVIN MURPHY-ANDERSON: Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. [SCREEN WIPE] We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee. O’BRIEN: Platner campaign confirms they have reached out to the party, but denied trying to influence what comes next, saying in a statement, “while Graham [Platner] wouldn’t want to be part of the process, he would want to make sure the voters and volunteers make this decision, not the political establishment.” O’Brien also focused on the fact that, following Racicot’s interviews, “Democrats are abandoning the embattled candidate” with “more than 20 senators calling on him to drop out,” including socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and “progressive voices like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani[.]” Later, O’Brien framed the necessity of Platner getting out: “A sense of the stakes here. Any possible path for Democrats taking back the Senate almost certainly runs through Maine. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator this year defending a seat in a state that Donald Trump lost in 2024.” While both their Tuesday evening shows skipped Fifield, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today were able to acknowledge Fifield’s existence in their reports. On NBC, co-host Craig Melvin opened the segment by saying Platner was “facing new calls to drop out” following “a new accusation of non-consensual sexual conduct.” Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles lamented, “[t]his situation really has become a waiting game for Democrats in Maine” with Platner holding the cards, leaving them “paralyzed and unable to move forward in what may be the most important race on the Senate map.” Only then did Nobles bring up Fifield’s graphic allegations (click “expand”): NOBLES: A new bombshell rocking the critical Senate race in Maine that could determine control of Congress. Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Platner, is facing mounting pressure this morning from top Democrats to end his campaign. It comes as another woman stepped forward overnight with new allegations of non-consensual sexual conduct. Platner’s ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Fifield, telling The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without consent during sex, saying: “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.” Platner’s campaign calling the accusation “categorically false and politically motivated.” Fifield previously accused Platner of aggressive physical conduct, especially when he was drinking, which he also denied. Fifield telling CNN Platner later apologized to her for his behavior. LYNDSEY FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: I’m hoping more people will come forward, at least saying he was known for being very rough with people. I mean, like, he apologized sober the next day on many of these occasions. NOBLES: This after another former romantic partner of Platner’s, Jenny Racicot, accused him of rape, saying he forced himself on her five years ago. JAKE TAPPER [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: Did Graham Platner rape you? RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: By definition, yes, absolutely. NOBLES: Platner denies her allegations, too. A source familiar with Platner’s thinking tells NBC News he’s still undecided about whether to step down in the race against GOP incumbent Susan Collins.  Towards the end of the piece, he found two man-on-the-street voters with an elderly male voter stating emphatically Platner had to go while an elderly white woman argued Mainers should stick with Platner because “we have to go with what we have” to defeat Collins. CBS Mornings fill-in co-host and former Today newsreader Natalie Morales described the state of the race as “Platner fac[ing] new sexual misconduct allegations and a wall of opposition now from fellow Democrats” who believe he’s “ interfering with the process of choosing a replacement.” Congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns said from Maine the race was “getting messy” with “[t]he Platner campaign say[ing] that they reached out to the Maine Democratic Party to try and understand what the process to replace him might look like and they insisted that voters, not party leaders, should decide who that is.” “All of this as we’re learning new details from one of his accusers. Graham Platner is still holding on in Maine’s U.S. Senate race despite mounting allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and growing calls for him to step aside,” she added. In contrast, the @CBSMornings piece from @CHueyBurns did mention Fifield as well as the fact that, just last month, major progressives were still on board with Platner such as Bernie Sanders (despite all that was known at the time) pic.twitter.com/BEvS3iaEkN — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 This segued into Huey-Burns summarizing the new claims from Fifield (click “expand”): FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It terrifies me to think of him having any type of power politically because what is he going to do with the testimony in his office. HUEY-BURNS: Lyndsey Fifield, who says she dated Platner more than a decade ago, told The Washington Post he had repeatedly removed condoms without their consent while the two had sex. She had previously told The New York Times Platner had gotten rough with him and spoke about it with CNN Tuesday. FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It was domestic abuse. HUEY-BURNS: All of this comes after another woman came forward to Politico, accusing Platner of rape. Platner has categorically denied both women’s allegations. But what made CBS’s package the strongest was Huey-Burns pointing out next that, just over a month ago, Sanders was still on board: HUEY-BURNS: He has now lost nearly all of his big-name supporters, like Senator Bernie Sanders who just a month ago had this to say. SANDERS [on 06/01/26]: Graham Platner is playing an extraordinarily strong campaign. HUEY-BURNS: Now, Sanders is joining the chorus of Democrats urging Platner to step aside. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who had preferred more moderate candidate Governor Janet Mills in the primary, blamed progressives. Only then did Huey-Burns say this hullabaloo has led “some Democratic voters here” to worry “about whether the party still has a chance to flip the seat held by long-time Republican incumbent Susan Collins.” To see the relevant transcripts from July 8, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).