The campaign arm for House Republicans called it “the scandal of the century” that U.S. Rep. Jared Golden and other Democrats in tough reelection fights visited the White House since 2021 amid fresh scrutiny of President Joe Biden’s fitness to serve.
But the congressman from Maine’s 2nd District who voted against Biden more than any other House Democrat last year — only went to two large White House events, though he and congressional colleagues from Maine received more private time with Biden on Air Force One when they traveled together to Auburn last summer for an economic policy-focused event.
The digital ad campaign launched Thursday by the National Republican Congressional Committee relies on a new Fox News story that used White House visitor logs to report 16 House Democrats in competitive November reelection battles visited the president’s residence a combined 133 times during Biden’s tenure.
The 30-second video clip targeting Golden — similar to other ads going after Democratic lawmakers such as U.S. Reps. Mary Peltola of Alaska and Vicente Gonzales of Texas — falsely claims Golden “met privately” and “witnessed Biden’s mental failures up close.”
The ad comes after Biden struggled in June to finish thoughts during a debate with former President Donald Trump, leading to the 81-year-old Biden facing growing calls from Democrats to step aside and polling showing him losing to the 78-year-old Trump. Biden has vowed to stay in and will give a high-stakes news conference Thursday evening to wrap up a NATO summit.
Golden has proven a durable Democratic candidate since first winning election to Congress in 2018 to represent Maine’s 2nd District, which Trump carried in 2016 and 2020. Golden faces state Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, a former NASCAR driver, in November.
Golden campaign spokesperson Mario Moretto said the congressman has never had a private meeting with the president.
Moretto confirmed Golden visited the White House in November 2021 for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill signing, which featured hundreds of officials and guests from both major parties, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Golden and his family also visited the White House last December to attend a Christmas event.
The campaign did not respond to a separate question on whether Golden “witnessed” anything with Biden on Air Force One last summer. At the Auburn event, Golden praised the broad outlines of Biden’s economic vision while Biden said Golden was doing a “great job.”
“Golden is handling concerns about the president’s health with the calm and responsible leadership that he is known for, while Austin Theriault and his handlers in D.C. treat this question of great national importance as nothing more than a political opportunity for themselves,” Moretto said.
In response, Theriault campaign manager Shawn Roderick continued to focus instead on whether Golden will support Biden in November. In a Bangor Daily News op-ed last week, Golden wrote he believes Trump will beat Biden, adding he will not vote for Trump. Golden told Maine Public he needs assurances on Biden’s health before deciding whether to vote for him.
“If Jared Golden agrees that Joe Biden’s health is a question of great national importance, then why does he serve up word salad every time he’s asked directly if he’s supporting Biden for re-election, or even if Biden should still be the president at all?” Roderick said in a statement.
National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Savannah Viar echoed Roderick by saying “Jared Golden has interacted with President Biden in multiple instances, and yet he is still refusing to answer if Joe Biden is fit to serve as president.”
Viar added the digital-only ad campaign targeting Golden and other Democrats will run through the end of next week and cost less than $10,000 in total while “targeting swing voters.”
