Many readers on this site will ask why we should bother saving the most moderate member of the House Democratic caucus. Rep. Jared Golden is someone who’s voted against having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, against Build Back Better, and against canceling student debt amongst other atrocious votes.
The answer is ultimately simple, although the explanation is complicated. Rep. Jared Golden is given permission to vote against our agenda by the Democratic leadership. Most votes on legislation are kabuki theater, with the outcome not in doubt. For the more moderate members of Congress, if their vote isn’t needed then they are given the privilege of voting the lean of their district. Golden sits in a district Donald Trump handily won, so he needs to vote against our legislation semi-frequently to stay in office.
Besides, like any politician, Rep. Jared Golden can change his mind on an issue. In a risky move, even after the Lewiston mass shooting, he came out FOR an assault weapons ban late last year. This came after years of opposition to gun safety legislation as proposed by his fellow Democratic colleagues.
Golden stated on Oct. 26:
"I propose that we should ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by this sick perpetrator of this mass killing."
Golden also asked his community for understanding.
"To the families who lost loved ones and to those who have been harmed, I ask forgiveness and support as I seek to put an end to these terrible shootings. In the days to come, I will give everything I have to support this communities recovery."
The question is whether or not you are willing to support Rep. Jared Golden while knowing he isn’t an automatic supporter of every Democratic priority.
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Rep. Jared Golden is one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the nation. He resides in a district that Donald Trump won easily in 2016 and 2020. That’s why I’ve included him in a group of 26 incumbents or open-seat races we are defending. #SaveTheMajority Fund.
Jared Golden for Maine-2
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What’s the Big Idea?
County results for ME-02 in 2022.
THIS RACE LEANS DEMOCRATIC, with an R+6 PVI
Maine’s 2nd district is the largest in geography east of the Mississippi River, covering roughly 27,000 square miles in area. That’s a LOT of ground for candidates to cover! Luckily for the candidates, many of the areas are rural and unpopulated, especially near the Canadian border. There are still many small towns and cities found in the district, including Bangor, Augusta, Lewiston/Auburn, Presque Isle, and Caribou. It is there that most of the population in the district can be found.
This blue-collar district stuck with the Democratic Party for a while, voting for Gore, Kerry, and Obama twice. During that same time frame, it tended to elect moderate Democratic members of Congress such as Rep. Mike Michaud. However, Maine’s 2nd district became enamored with Trump, and it has veered sharply to the right. Trump split Maine’s electoral votes twice by handily winning this district. That includes a 51.6% to 45.5% victory in 2020. 2014 was a wake-up call, as Bruce Poliquin won 54.8% of the vote and flipped the district when the seat was open.
At the same time, Maine’s 2nd district has only thrown out an incumbent one time since 1916. That happened during the 2018 blue wave election, when GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin was tossed aside by instant runoff voting for Golden. Golden faced Poliquin once again in 2022, and he won 53.1% to 46.9% using instant runoff voting. Around 373k voted in the 2020 election in this district, while only 316k voted in 2022. Could the missing voters be favorable to Trump?
Golden has to hope that the 2nd district remains on his side and recent history of voting for Trump doesn’t doom him. However, a recent poll suggests the Harris/Walz ticket is overperforming here.
Here’s where this 2nd district race will be won.
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Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta, Bangor: These small cities are pockets of blue in what is otherwise a sea of rural red. It will be important for Golden to run up the score in friendly turf because the rest of the district grows more difficult for Democratic candidates with each passing year.
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Areas by Acadia National Park: These more rural areas are an exception to the previous rule, and are areas that Joe Biden won in 2020. Golden must win over these environmentally conscious and tourist-catering voters if he is to secure re-election in 2022.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
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Presque Isle and Caribou: These two small cities in northern Maine, on the other hand, have decided to vote for Trump and for GOP candidates in the last few years. These small cities aren’t ones that Golden needs to win, but he certainly needs to keep them relatively close or he may lose the district as Biden did in 2020.
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Rural Northern Maine: The rest of the district does have a few more blue precincts according to Dave’s Redistricting App, but the majority of rural northern Maine is a sea of red as blue-collar whites trend away from the Democratic Party. Golden has to buck this trend and win one of the least diverse districts east of the Mississippi by narrowing the margins in rural territory.
Rep. Jared Golden: Better Than First Advertised
He’s not a progressive. That doesn’t mean Rep. Jared Golden is a terrible incumbent not worth saving!
Rep. Jared Golden was born in 1982 in Lewiston, Maine. He originally had planned to attend college, but he dropped out after 9/11 to join the US Marine Corps. He served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, then came home to attend Bates College and earn a degree in history and politics. He would go on to serve as an aide to Sen. Susan Collins after briefly working for an international logistics firm.
Golden would return to Maine again in 2013 to run for the Maine House of Representatives. He would rise through the ranks to become Assistant House Majority Leader and the chair of the Rules Committee. Golden would give up his seat in 2018 to run against GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin, and he used ranked-choice voting and the blue wave election that year to win this seat.
The #1 reason to keep electing Rep. Jared Golden to office is his stance on women’s rights. Golden is pro-choice and has never wavered on that stance. He is a vote to secure Roe, IVF protections, and birth control. That stance alone makes it worth keeping Golden around in this moderate-to-conservative district.
The issue of protecting democracy is another one where Golden is firmly within our camp. He has pushed for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. He supports both the John Lewis VRA and the For the People Act. He stays in office due to ranked-choice voting, so it makes sense for him to support these kinds of measures.
Golden is also very strong on environmental issues in Congress. He backed legislation to keep the US in the Paris Climate Agreement and supported the biggest climate crisis legislation yet in the Inflation Reduction Act. He also supports the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which helps protect public lands and parks.
Golden was one of the first legislators to call for Biden to send F-16s to Ukraine so that they can adequately defend themselves. He is a more hawkish voice in our caucus and a staunch supporter of Israel. He voted for the Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan funding bill that was the last aid package to pass the House.
Golden is strong on healthcare issues, which is why he flipped from being a vote against Build Back Better to voting for the Inflation Reduction Act. He has consistently called for expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage to more of the population. He has also tackled drug price gouging through his FLAT Prices Act, which punishes Big Pharma for jacking up drug prices.
Golden is an original sponsor of the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize a union. He would also pass legislation to take away tax breaks from companies that partake in union busting. His zeal for workers also shows up in him opposing free trade legislation such as the new US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
Golden has made it a part of his mission to protect Social Security (and Medicare) from any cuts in services like the GOP would pass. He supports the Social Security 2100 Act which would increase benefits through raising the cap. He would also vote to eliminate harmful tax provisions that prevent seniors from getting their full benefits.
Rep. Jared Golden is a LOT better than any GOP replacement. Period.
Austin Theriault: Wet Behind the Ears
Austin Theriault was a NASCAR driver. Don’t discount the popularity of that in rural Maine.
Austin Theriault was born in 1994 in Maine. He started racing at a very young age, rising through the ranks to eventually briefly reach the top level in NASCAR. Theriault hasn’t raced professionally since 2019. He now runs a driver development business that teaches aspiring drivers so they have the same opportunities he had as a driver.
In the 2022 elections, Theriault ran for the state legislature, easily winning a primary for the 1st district of the Maine House of Representatives. That was tantamount to election in deeply conservative northern Maine. He has made some enemies in the more moderate wing of the GOP, with a fellow state legislator resigning in protest after Theriault won the primary election for this district.
Theriault wants to restrict abortion access in Maine. He voted against protecting women when they need an abortion during complex medical situations. He also voted against a bill to protect abortion services being covered after corporate mergers. No doubt he would vote for a national abortion ban given the opportunity.
Theriault claims to be for the rural workers of Maine’s 2nd district, but his voting record is at odds with that claim. He voted against Maine’s paid family leave program. He also voted against making Maine’s minimum wage $15.
When it came time to provide Mainers tax relief, Theriault voted against that too because it contained tax increases on the wealthy. Theriault has signed the radical Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which agrees to never raise taxes even if it means reducing the debt. He has also come out in favor of extending the Trump Tax Scam. No doubt that more trickle-down economics are on the way if Theriault has his say.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Theriault came out in favor of the radical concept of zero-based budgeting in this interview. This is the Rick Scott sunsetting plan on steroids, requiring programs to be justified every YEAR to get funding. This would lead to deep cuts in social programs whenever the GOP is in charge of any branch of the government.
In the primary debates, the Trump-backed Theriault came out against the Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan funding bill. He claims that “money should not be spent on Ukraine while our border isn’t secure and the American people aren’t being taken care of”. Another sign that the GOP is becoming the isolationist party under Trump.
It is clear that Austin Theriault is no Jared Golden and that he would be a disastrous choice for Maine’s 2nd district. In listening to his interview and reading the debate recap, it is also clear that he is wet behind the ears. Less than two years in the state legislature and only one election behind him make him too inexperienced to be effective.
How Can You Help?
Rural Maine may seem like an odd location for a heated Congressional race, especially given the fact that it is one of the whitest districts in the country. Yet Mainers are proud of their independent streak and never throwing out incumbents. Rep. Jared Golden will have to rely on those facts if he is to secure another term in this conservative-leaning seat.
Austin Theriault is raising credible sums to mount a serious challenge to Golden. At the end of the Q2 reporting period, he had $899k to spend compared to $3.3M for the incumbent. The ad war for this district is going to be relentless.
Nearly $16 million in political ads have been reserved for the district, which Trump won twice. That’s a lot of ad buys in a relatively inexpensive market. The planned spending is about evenly divided between Republican and Democratic groups, according to AdImpact, which tracks media buys.
Rep. Jared Golden has a recurring virtual phone bank event every Wednesday and Saturday until the date of the election. There are two shifts available each Saturday: one from 12-2PM EDT and another from 3-5:30PM EDT. Since it is virtual, anyone across America can help re-elect this incumbent!
In terms of canvassing, there are so many little towns and cities that have efforts that I could not possibly link to them all. Instead, I will give a general link to his Mobilize page. If you live in one of these areas, consider helping out on a weekend canvass!
I get it. Rep. Jared Golden isn’t a progressive by any stretch of the imagination. He can be a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party on votes, but I remind you that he is allowed to be that way in order to survive in this conservative district. Even with ranked-choice voting aiding him, Golden is still exposed to risk every election cycle. Daily Kos Elections rates him as 15th most vulnerable Democratic seat this cycle.
Another knock on Austin Theriault is that he isn’t ready for primetime. He is only 30 years old and has spent most of that time racing. He only joined the Maine House in 2022 and has only one term of legislating under his belt. He’ll get sucked into the conservative swamp if he is elected.
The real question is whether Maine voters are willing to revoke Rep. Jared Golden’s ticket to Congress just because he is the most moderate member of the Democratic caucus. He matches the tradition of moderation set by Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Angus King. Do we really want an inexperienced NASCAR driver supported by Trump and Mike Johnson in his stead?
Jared Golden for Maine-2
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