Earlier this week, after news broke that Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner had sexted up to a dozen women behind his wife’s back in recent years, I wrote that the most worrying part of the story for Democrats was that there was no reason to believe it would be the last. The scandal-plagued political newcomer, on whose candidacy Dems have hung their hopes of defeating longtime incumbent Susan Collins and retaking the Senate, has a history of rash judgment and callous behavior that keeps growing in spite of his repeated claims that he has nothing else to hide.

It only took a few days for the next story to drop. On Thursday afternoon, the New York Times published a piece with accounts from several of Platner’s former girlfriends. While some described the former Marine as a kind and supportive partner, others detailed disturbing conduct.

The article leaves room for debate about whether Platner actually perpetrated the worst offenses, which he denies, and whether those offenses should be disqualifying for a Senate candidate. But at this point in the campaign, with five months still to go before the general election, Platner’s character has been called into question by enough news reports to leave Maine voters in an unenviable spot. They can vote for a guy with a careless, self-destructive streak and a loose relationship to the truth on the promise that he’ll stand up to Donald Trump and champion the working class. Or, they can stick with Collins, who has a lengthy record of letting down Mainers and letting Trump do what he pleases.

The worst allegations in the Times piece come from Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner when they were both living in D.C. from 2013 to 2015. Fifield said that Platner would regularly grab her by the shoulders, sometimes with enough force to leave marks. On one occasion, Platner allegedly pulled her out of a taxi by her wrist while she tried to stay in the car after they’d had a fight. And Fifield said that one night, the Times reported, “he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was ‘calm.’ ”

Fifield also said that, contrary to his claim that he didn’t know his tattoo was a Nazi symbol until he was criticized for it during his campaign, he referred to the image by name to her while they dated, calling it “my Totenkopf.”

According to Platner, Fifield is lying on all counts. “Anything alleging physicality,........

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