House - Jared Golden - ME-2
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- Democrat running for re-election in a district representing the northern 80% of Maine
- video clip: "Focus"
This is a largely rural congressional district. In 2020 Trump beat Biden in this district by 7.4%, while Jared prevailed over a weak, underfunded Republican opponent by 6%. The 2022 election will be much more challenging for Jared because Republican Bruce Poliquin is running again, after controversial former governor Paul LePage reportedly urged Poliquin to try again. 68-year-old Poliquin is the wealthy former Republican Congressman in this district whom Jared barely beat in 2018 in one of the closest races in the country. See: “Maine, Nebraska remain Electoral College battlegrounds after redistricting”, Politico, 9/30/21.
When our country was attacked on 9/11, Jared Golden responded by joining the US Marines, serving several tours of combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jared was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2014, and in 2016 was chosen by his peers to serve as the Democratic Assistant Majority Leader. As a State Representative, Jared passed legislation to improve mental health care for veterans and first responders, stood up for working families, and fought for affordable and accessible health care.
Republican Bruce Poliquin, Jared’s opponent in 2022, was educated at the exclusive Phillips Academy Andover prep school, and worked in the investment management industry in New York and Chicago. As a Congressman, Poliquin voted in support of President Trump’s position 96.8% of the time; his environmental record was terrible (16% rating from League of Conservation Voters), and he voted numerous times to defund Planned Parenthood. In 2022 Poliquin said he agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Poliquin supported his party’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act when he was in Congress. Poliquin received criticism for taking money from insurance companies and avoiding discussions of his vote to repeal. In 2017 then-Congressman Poliquin tried to avoid questions about his health care positions by running into a women’s bathroom to avoid a reporter, and by ignoring a questioner in a Maine senior living facility. In a November 2017 editorial entitled “Our View: Poliquin hurt Mainers with vote for tax bill - Huge windfalls for corporations will not trickle down to most of the people he represents”, Maine’s Portland Press Herald newspaper attacked Poliquin for his vote for the Republican tax bill: “Rep. Bruce Poliquin had a big week. The representative for Maine’s 2nd District voted to bankrupt graduate students, add $1.7 trillion to the federal deficit and cut $25 billion out of next year’s Medicare budget.” In 2018, then-Congressman Poliquin co-sponsored legislation that would have cut $7 billion of federal aid to children's health insurance. As a congressman Poliquin repeatedly voted against investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. In 2020 Poliquin wrote an op-ed urging the re-election of Donald Trump, saying "Let’s choose sunshine and success...Go vote for another four years under President Donald J. Trump."
Jared’s priorities in Congress have included access to affordable healthcare, protection for people with preexisting conditions, lower prescription drug costs, and protection of Social Security and Medicare. He co-sponsored H.R. 1 to reduce corporate interests in our politics and introduce more transparency into campaign finance laws, co-sponsored the FAMILY Act to create a universal paid family leave program so that parents don't have to choose between their jobs and caring for a new baby or an aging parent, and co-sponsored Medicare Buy-In legislation so that no one has to live without affordable, high-quality health care. He sponsored a bill to protect the coastline from offshore drilling.
Jared sits on the Armed Services Committee and the Small Business Committee. He is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus.
When endorsing Jared for re-election in 2020, the Bangor Daily News editorial board said: “U.S. Rep. Jared Golden has proven himself a thoughtful, moderate voice in Congress who represents Maine’s 2nd District voters well. Those voters should send him back to Washington for another two years…A former Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Golden has unsurprisingly stepped up to support his fellow veterans. For example, following repeated advocacy from Golden and other members of the Maine congressional delegation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently approved the construction of a 24-bed residential facility to provide substance use treatment to Maine veterans. Golden has also proven to be a detail-oriented advocate for Maine in areas such as supporting the Maine lobster industry and expanding the resources provided by federal small business development centers…Jared Golden had already shown that he is an independent thinker who doesn’t follow partisan dogma. He has established himself as part of Maine’s strong tradition of moderate leaders while bringing new ideas to the table. He has placed the realities of his constituents ahead of the political theater in Washington, and we expect those constituents to continue to be well-served if they place their trust in him again in this election.”
Jared needs our help to retain his seat and to keep fighting for affordable, quality health care, lower prescription drug costs, and other matters important to families, seniors and veterans in Maine and across the country. We need to keep Trump ally and LePage ally Poliquin from representing this district ever again.
