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Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault says encouraging things about bucking party leaders and potentially working to find balanced solutions if elected to serve Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in Washington. But that talk remains largely theoretical, at least for now.
We don’t have to wonder if current Rep. Jared Golden will chart his own path independent of leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has proven it repeatedly, breaking with fellow Democrats on prominent legislation and playing a significant role to shape debate around bipartisan wins like the 2021 infrastructure law.
Golden has sought compromise trying to advance stagnant issues like updating federal immigration policy, and repeatedly emphasized the need for collaborative paths to funding the government and supporting U.S. allies abroad that, while p erhaps obvious to the American people, have not always been obvious to those in power in Washington. He has been steadfast in supporting long-overdue and still-elusive reforms to tighten federal ethics laws and boost public trust in our institutions, most notably in the push to ban stock trading by members of Congress.
“Every major action in this Congress that became a law, because it had to, has been passed with a minority of the majority and a majority of the minority voting together in a bipartisan governing coalition,” Golden told the BDN editorial board about the past two years. “And the media doesn’t talk about it that way, but that’s the truth. Which should be cause for optimism.”
Despite his willingness to work with Republicans on a broad swath of issues, he hasn’t compromised on core beliefs like supporting women’s reproductive rights and supporting workers. One area where he has received vociferous criticism over the past year — his response to the Lewiston mass shooting and his willingness to support some sort of assault weapons ban — has been framed as a flip-flop by some gun rights groups and political opponents.
We continue to see that evolution, not as a weakness, but as a refreshing willingness to acknowledge that a past position doesn’t match current realities. There is an important difference between being consistent and being stubborn, and Golden proved that there can be strength in a leader admitting they were wrong.
That is not to say that Golden always strikes a balanced and reflective tone, however. He has disappointed in recent months, by sometimes employing a fairly combative style, for example dismissing some critics as “radical leftist elitists” and diminishing concerns about a second Trump presidency. He’s also been unwilling to provide a direct answer to questions about who he is voting for in the presidential election. He has said that he won’t vote for former President Donald Trump, but refused to say who he will vote for. This is puzzling because it didn’t seem to be a difficult question for Golden in 2020, when he said he would vote for Joe Biden.
Theriault, by contrast, has been quite clear about his support for Trump. And while he doesn’t lose any points for candor, we do see a significant disconnect between that support and one of the stated aims of Theriault’s campaign. Like other politicians before him, he has made putting “people over politics” a central theme. He explained to the BDN editorial board that, to him, part of this effort means “using politics as a way for us to take back the very extreme rhetoric that we’ve seen over the past 10 or 20 years across the country, and get back to commonsense policies that work for people.” In our assessment, there is a deep inconsistency between that stated goal and the extreme rhetoric that Trump uses on a daily basis.
Yes, Theriault has shown some willingness to go against Republican Party orthodoxy during his two years as a state representative in Augusta. His support for a bill to study safe drug use sites, which opponents tried to use against him in the Republican primary, stands out as a meaningful example. Theriault has stressed how experience with addiction in his own family has shaped his perspective.
“I’m very proud to say that I believe in making sure we allow people, when they need help and are calling for help, that they get the resources that they need,” Theriault powerfully said during a primary debate, as reported by Maine Public.
In a way, by stressing his willingness to break from his own party, Theriault is essentially promising to be Jared Golden with an R behind his name. But until he actually stands up to Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Donald Trump, rather than accepting their endorsements, we can’t be sure that this will actually materialize in the high stakes atmosphere of Capitol Hill.
Jared Golden has proven that he can and will do so. He has the needed experience to navigate a divided House of Representatives, securing wins for his district while advancing critical national issues. Despite moments of frustration, Golden remains the better choice to represent the 2nd District.
Election notice: The BDN will stop accepting letters and columns related to the Nov. 5 election on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Not all submissions can be published.
