Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) on Tuesday survived his hardest problem so far, Choice Desk HQ initiatives, keeping 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 searching for reelection in a district carried by President-elect Trump in 2020, and GOP operatives thought they’d a ringer this 12 months in Austin Theriault, a 30-year-old state consultant and former NASCAR driver. Either 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’s been unafraid to vote towards his get together on high-profile points like power coverage, pupil mortgage forgiveness and police reform. He’s additionally a co-chair of the Blue Canine Democrats, a as soon as formidable group of average lawmakers who’re attempting to revive that affect by advocating for centrist insurance policies and bipartisan policymaking.
That observe report helped Golden win in 2020, when Trump carried the district by 6.1 factors, and it’s insulated him since then from the GOP assaults attempting to hyperlink him to President Biden and the liberals within the Democratic Caucus. This 12 months proved no totally different.
Golden’s victory is certain to frustrate GOP leaders, who noticed the district as one in all their finest probabilities to pad their slim Home majority. It’s additionally a sign that, at the very least in some components of the polarized nation, voters are nonetheless prepared to separate the poll.
The closeness of the race made it among the many most costly within the nation, as exterior teams poured greater than $25 million into the district, in keeping with Open Secrets and techniques.
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