Several women who used to date Senate candidate Graham Platner told The New York Times this week that reports of the Maine Democrat’s past offensive posts online and of cheating on his now-wife echo volatile behavior they said they experienced while romantically involved with him.The Times spoke with more than two dozen people for the story, including six women who said they had dated Platner. Of those women, three who had been with him for years described “unsettling behavior” that sometimes included demeaning women, cheating, drinking heavily and in one case being physically threatening.The first woman, who works on Republican campaigns, described him as abusive and “cavalierly contemptuous of women’s emotions.” The second woman, a Maine liberal, said she “recognized a version of him that I had experiences with” when seeing his old posts. A third woman, another Maine Democrat, said she felt like “collateral damage to the world that is his.”In a statement to the Times, Platner’s campaign said the oyster farmer and combat veteran was in “a dark place” during the time he dated those women – reasoning he gave for other scandals like his old posts and his tattoo of a Nazi symbol – and that he “was a far from perfect boyfriend.”This is a developing story. Check back for updates.Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.Relatedsenate graham platner