Maine Democrat Jared Golden wins re-election in 2nd Congressional District

Democratic incumbent Rep. Jared Golden will win his re-election race in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race, defeating former GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin, The Associated Press projects.

The race this election was a repeat of the congressional district’s 2018 race, where Marine Corps veteran Golden unseated then-incumbent Poliquin. 

The 2018 election was operated by a ranked-choice voting system, which was opposed by Poliquin, who refused to concede the election and filed a lawsuit to declare ranked-choice voting unconstitutional. His suit was rejected, and the election results were upheld in Federal court.

In Congress, Golden has been known to publicly disagree with his own party. Golden served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and worked for Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, before serving in the Maine House of Representatives as a Democrat. 

He was the lone House Democrat to vote against the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package and the Build Back Better Act, and he opposed the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.

Topics such as abortion, student-loan forgiveness, and inflation took center stage during the candidate’s first and only debate.

Poliquin expressed his pro-life stance, and while Golden denounced late-term abortions, the Democrat still supports abortions up until viability, the point at which the fetus can survive outside the womb. Both candidates expressed contempt for student loan forgiveness, but diverged on the Inflation Reduction Act, which Golden voted in favor of and Poliquin opposed.

Fox News’ Alexandra Orbuch contributed to this report.