AUGUSTA, Maine — State Rep. Austin Theriault, the former NASCAR driver backed by national Republicans in his bid for Congress, now shifts his focus to U.S. Rep. Jared Golden after breezing past Mike Soboleski in Tuesday’s Republican primary in Maine’s 2nd District.
Theriault, a 30-year-old freshman lawmaker from Fort Kent, had plenty of advantages over Soboleski, a 67-year-old Marine veteran and fellow freshman state representative from Phillips, thanks to ex-President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a 10-to-1 fundraising lead.
But Theriault’s primary campaign was far different than his first consensus-oriented race for office in the tight-knit communities of northern Maine. Theriault now must consider how to adjust for a general election race against Golden, who has defeated Republicans since winning election to Congress in 2018 and voted against President Joe Biden more than any other House Democrat last year, according to a CQ-Roll Call analysis.
Theriault will likely continue his line of arguing that Golden often votes with progressives while trying to tie him to the unpopular Biden and national issues such as border security. Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin tried the same tactic in 2022 and lost to Golden by 6 percentage points.
One major change between now and then is that Golden abruptly reversed himself to support a ban on so-called assault weapons after the October mass shooting in Lewiston, something Republicans think will hurt him. Both Theriault and Soboleski seized on the shift, which angered some of Golden’s former allies, including the gun-rights Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.
For Theriault, the Trump-focused image is already a change from his State House campaign in 2022. While running for the St. John Valley seat in a heavily Catholic region historically dominated by Democrats, Theriault described himself as a moderate conservative who backed keeping Maine’s permissive set of abortion laws on the books.
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His State House voting record has at times reflected that approach, something Soboleski tried to criticize while arguing he was the more conservative 2nd District candidate. Theriault was neither one of the quietest members of the Legislature nor the most vocal. He only introduced three bills and served on the largely bipartisan Transportation Committee.
Running for Congress, Theriault has rarely skipped an opportunity to mention Trump and his endorsement in interviews, debates and advertisements. The campaign’s communications often featured Trump’s name more prominently than the candidate’s name.
While Trump is favored to win the 2nd District for a third time, he also recently became the first former president convicted of a felony in American history and is vowing to enact “retribution” on his political enemies if reelected in November. One of the earliest things to watch during Theriault’s general election pivot is how he does or does not distance himself from Trump.
Theriault offered a glimpse of how he will continue to cite Trump while also trying to appeal to rural voters of different political stripes during a News Center Maine interview last month, declining to answer a question about whether the former president is a uniter or a divider but saying Trump can turn the nation’s economy around.
“I came from the St. John Valley, and obviously I didn’t come from New York, so I don’t talk the same as [Trump],” he said. “But at the end of the day, we have to make changes.”
Unlike most Democrats, Golden is not a reflexive Trump critic. For example, he supports different sets of tariffs on Chinese-made goods proposed by Trump and Biden. His strategy may be to pick apart some of Theriault’s scant stances on national issues. Golden has been a staunch supporter of aid to Ukraine, while Theriault outlined opposition to it in April.
Golden, whose race is rated a “toss up” by national forecasters, signaled no sense of worry in March after Trump endorsed Theriault, telling the Washington Examiner he would “rather face a neoliberal like Austin Theriault than another Marine like Mike Soboleski.” After Theriault beat Soboleski, a Golden campaign spokesperson said they were “glad for this outcome.”
The national parties gave a preview Tuesday of how they will attack either Golden or Theriault over the next five months. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Savannah Viar said Golden “has flip flopped on the issues most important to Mainers, including guns.”
Theriault’s “inexperience and fidelity to extreme party bosses are out of step with this fiercely independent district,” U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Washington, the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement.
