Maine Rep. Jared Golden, Trump Country Democrat, Wins Reelection

Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat who backed an assault weapons ban in a conservative, rural district, won reelection to a fourth term. The Associated Press declared Golden the winner on Friday, 10 days after Election Day, following a ranked-choice runoff.

Golden, a Marine combat veteran, defeated Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault, a former professional race car driver. 

“No matter what the attacks are from one election to the other, you know who I am, I know who I am. I’m not going to forget where I come from,” Golden said during a televised candidate forum in October. “And I’m going to continue being the same kind of member that I’ve been for the last six years — that’s one of the most bipartisan members of Congress.”

Since Golden, a co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Caucus, is one of just five House Democrats representing seats Donald Trump carried in 2016 and 2020, he could provide a model for Democrats hoping to compete in rural areas with a MAGA shade of red.

Golden, a self-described “progressive conservative,” is an abortion rights supporter and relative economic populist who also supports law enforcement, strict border security, and has fought President Joe Biden’s regulations of the lobster industry. He was the sole House Democrat to vote against the far-reaching Build Back Better Act but voted for the Inflation Reduction Act — the scaled-back bill that became law — which included a cap on insulin costs for seniors that Golden now features in his ads.

Golden, a concealed handgun carrier and sportsman, also once opposed major new gun control regulations. But after a gunman used an assault rifle to massacre 18 people in Golden’s hometown of Lewiston in October 2023, he came out in favor of a ban on the sale of those kinds of weapons while still opposing other gun restrictions.

Golden’s stance prompted the National Rifle Association to give him an “F” grade, as well as attacks from Theriault casting doubt on Golden’s commitment to the Second Amendment.

But HuffPost’s September report on Theriault calling the police on a man lawfully carrying an assault rifle on his own porch undercut Theriault’s credentials as a Second Amendment champion. Golden also aired a TV ad featuring a former chief of the Maine State Police attesting, among other things, to Golden’s support for gun rights.

In the final stretch, national Republican groups opted against focusing on gun policy and instead tried to depict Golden as soft on illegal immigration.

Golden could point to a history of pressing Biden to reinstate Title 42, a pandemic-era rule that allowed border enforcement authorities to turn away asylum-seekers.

Golden, who has declined to say how he plans to vote in the presidential election, found other high-profile ways to distance himself from the national Democratic Party. After Biden’s disastrous late June debate with Trump, Golden memorably wrote an op-ed column in early July predicting that Biden would lose and “democracy will be just fine.” 

“In 2025, I believe Trump is going to be in the White House,” Golden wrote. “Maine’s representatives will need to work with him when it benefits Mainers, hold him accountable when it does not and work independently across the aisle no matter what.”

See full results from the Maine House election here.