AUGUSTA, Maine — The two Republicans running to unseat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in Maine’s 2nd District issued swift statements excoriating a New York jury’s verdict that made Donald Trump the first former president to become a felon.
Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records became an opportunity for the Maine Republican Party and the candidates on the ballot in the June 11 primaries here to show unvarnished support for the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump is set for a November rematch against President Joe Biden, and the former president has been consistently leading his Democratic rival in national polls. The Maine canvas for their election will be the rural 2nd District that twice voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, although Golden won significant cross-party support to narrowly outpoll him in the latter race.
Freshman state Reps. Austin Theriault of Fort Kent and Mike Soboleski of Phillips are dueling for the nomination to face Golden in next month’s primary. Both are avowed Trump supporters, although Theriault is the favorite in large part due to support from Trump and House Republicans’ influential campaign arm.
In a statement released shortly after the verdict was read, Theriault called Trump’s trial a “sham” and echoed the former president’s criticism of the state judge who managed the trial in part due to the judge’s daughter working for a firm that works for Democratic campaigns.
“It’s sad that our justice system looks like a banana republic under Joe Biden, and I know that fairness will be restored under President Donald Trump,” he said.
Theriault and Soboleski noted Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ controversial December decision to disqualify Trump from the ballot for his role in inciting the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2023. Her move was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in March, but it was a rallying point for conservatives here.
“The irreparable damage done to the integrity of our judicial system is deeply troubling,” Soboleski said in his statement.
Golden, who has largely avoided commenting on Trump’s legal troubles, issued a statement that set aside questions he said he had gotten from reporters on the politics of the verdict.
“I have no doubt that information about this verdict will feature in the campaign,” he said. “I trust the people of Maine with their votes.”
This round of charges against Trump were brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused the former president of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had sex with the married Trump a decade earlier.
It is the first of four cases against the former president to go to a verdict. Trump is facing local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington for allegedly conspiring to undo his 2020 loss to Biden, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records. Those three cases are bogged down by delays or appeals.
He now faces potential prison time in New York. Despite the legal jeopardy, he is the frontrunner in the November race for the White House. Trump has led Biden in four of the six most recent national polls tracked by Real Clear Politics. One February poll had Trump leading Biden in Maine, which hasn’t backed a Republican presidential candidate statewide since 1988.
Trump lashed out at the verdict in a lengthy statement calling himself “an innocent man.” Biden’s campaign retorted by saying the former president is running an “increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution.” But both statements noted that voters will deliver the verdict that matters most in the November election.
“While our country is facing many challenges, now is a moment to have some faith in our democracy and this important exercise of the rule of law,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine’s liberal 1st District.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
