Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden won reelection against Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault in a battleground Maine House district, The Associated Press predicted.
Golden prevailed after a tabulation of ranked choices was finalized Friday, 50.35 percent to 49.65 percent, with all other voters redistricted.
Golden’s district, which former President Donald Trump won by about 6 percentage points in 2020, was one of the top Republican targets this cycle. Theriault hammered Golden on inflation and the economy, and Republicans also attacked Golden for changing his position on banning assault weapons after a series of mass shootings in 2023 in Lewiston, Maine, the largest city in his district.
The shooting killed eighteen people, and Golden called his previous opposition to a ban a “failure.”
Golden, co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, took an iconoclastic approach to his campaign, refusing to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy.
