Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) on Wednesday survived his hardest problem thus far, Resolution Desk HQ initiatives, heading off a formidable GOP opponent to safe his fourth time period on Capitol Hill.
Golden has been a perennial goal of Republicans in Maine’s 2nd District, which ranks among the many most rural within the nation. He was one in all simply 5 Democratic incumbents in search of reelection in a district carried by President-elect Trump in 2020, and GOP operatives thought they’d a ringer this yr in Austin Theriault, a 30-year-old state consultant and former NASCAR driver. Each side spent thousands and thousands of {dollars} on the race.
However Golden, 42, has constructed his personal model as an unbiased voice in his six years within the decrease chamber. A former Marine who served in each Iraq and Afghanistan, he is been unafraid to vote in opposition to his social gathering on high-profile points like power coverage, scholar mortgage forgiveness and police reform. He is additionally a co-chair of the Blue Canine Democrats, a as soon as formidable group of reasonable lawmakers who’re attempting to revive that affect by advocating for centrist insurance policies and bipartisan policymaking.
That monitor report helped Golden win in 2020, when Trump carried the district by 6.1 factors, and it is insulated him since then from GOP assaults attempting to hyperlink him to President Biden and the liberals within the Democratic caucus. This yr proved no completely different.
Golden’s victory is bound to frustrate GOP leaders, who noticed the district as one in all their finest possibilities to pad their slim Home majority. It is also a sign that, a minimum of in some components of the polarized nation, voters are nonetheless keen to separate the poll.
The closeness of the race made it among the many costliest within the nation, as outdoors teams poured greater than $25 million into the district, in response to OpenSecrets.
