Jared Golden

Jared Forrest Golden (born July 25, 1982) is an American politician and a Marine Corps veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Maine's 2nd congressional district since 2019.

A member of the Democratic Party, his district, the largest east of the Mississippi River by area, covers the northern four-fifths of the state, including Lewiston, Bangor, and Auburn. Golden's district was concurrently carried by Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election in Maine.

Golden, along with Angus King and Chellie Pingree, are the first members of Congress to be elected by ranked-choice voting. Golden is the only member of Congress elected after finishing second in the first round of tabulation. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a United States Marine.

Early life and education
Golden was born in Lewiston and raised in Leeds. He attended Leavitt Area High School. Golden enrolled as a student at the University of Maine at Farmington but left after one year to join the United States Marine Corps in 2002. He served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After returning home to Maine, Golden attended Bates College, graduating with a degree in history and politics. He went on to work for an international logistics firm and then for Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Maine House of Representatives
Golden returned to Maine in 2013 to work for the House Democratic Office in the Maine Legislature. As a Democrat, Golden ran for and was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2014, representing part of the city of Lewiston. He was reelected in 2016. In the subsequent legislative session, Golden became Assistant House Majority Leader. Golden chaired the Elections Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Joint Rules.

2018
On August 24, 2017, Golden announced his candidacy against Bruce Poliquin to serve in the United States House of Representatives for ME's 2nd congressional district. On June 20, 2018, he was declared the winner of the Democratic primary, defeating environmentalist Lucas St. Clair and bookstore owner Craig Olson.

On election night, Golden trailed Poliquin by 2,000 votes. As neither candidate won a majority, Maine's newly implemented ranked-choice voting system called for the votes of independents Tiffany Bond and William Hoar to be redistributed to Poliquin or Golden in accordance with their voters' second choice. The independents' supporters ranked Golden as their second choice by an overwhelming margin, allowing him to defeat Poliquin by 3,000 votes after the final tabulation. He is the first challenger to unseat an incumbent in the district since 1916.

Poliquin opposed the use of ranked-choice voting in the election and claimed to be the winner due to his first-round lead. He filed a lawsuit in federal court to have ranked-choice voting declared unconstitutional and to have himself declared the winner. Judge Lance E. Walker rejected all of Poliquin's arguments and upheld the certified results. Poliquin appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and requested an order to prevent Golden from being certified as the winner, but the request was rejected. On December 24, Poliquin dropped his lawsuit, allowing Golden to take the seat.

2020
Golden ran for reelection in 2020 and won the Democratic primary unopposed. His Republican opponent was Dale Crafts, a former Maine Representative. Most political pundits expected Golden to win the general election easily; polling showed him ahead of Crafts by an average of about 19%, Sabato's Crystal Ball and The Cook Political Report both rating the contest as "Likely Democratic", and analysis website FiveThirtyEight predicted that Golden had a 96 out of 100 chance of winning, with Golden garnering nearly 57% of the vote in their projection of the most likely scenario.

In November, Golden defeated Crafts 53%–47%, a closer margin than expected. President Donald Trump carried the district in that same election.

2022
Golden ran for reelection in 2022 and won the Democratic primary unopposed. He faced former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin, whom he narrowly beat in 2018, and independent Tiffany Bond, who also ran for the 2nd congressional district seat in 2018. In July, Golden was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, Maine's largest police union, which "split the ticket" by also endorsing former Republican governor Paul LePage. Polls again showed Golden with a lead, but many organizations rated the seat as a "tossup", as incumbent President Joe Biden was unpopular and inflation was approaching 40-year highs; Decision Desk HQ even gave the seat a "Leans Republican" rating. Nonetheless, Golden led the field in the first round, and defeated Poliquin 53%–47% after Bond's second-choice votes mostly flowed to him.

Tenure




Golden was sworn in on January 3, 2019. During the election for Speaker of the House, he voted against Democratic Caucus nominee Nancy Pelosi, as he had pledged to do during his campaign, instead voting for Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois. On December 18, 2019, Golden voted for Article I of the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump but was one of three Democrats to vote against Article II.

On February 6, 2020, Golden endorsed Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado for president during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

As of August 2022, Golden had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 85.7% of the time, the lowest rate of any member of the Democratic caucus.

Golden represents the second-most rural district in the United States, with 72% of its population in rural areas, and it has the second highest proportion of non-Hispanic White residents (94%); only Kentucky's 5th congressional district exceeds it in the two categories. Furthermore, Golden's district was carried by Donald Trump in 2020, being the only district in New England to do so.

Build Back Better Act
Golden was the lone House Democrat to vote against the Build Back Better Act, citing concerns about the elimination of the $10,000 cap on the SALT deduction and the lack of prescription drug pricing reform. He later joined all other Democrats in voting for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, an amended version of the original bill.

COVID-19 policy
On January 31, 2023, Golden was among seven Democrats to vote for H.R.497: Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, a bill that would lift COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers.

On February 1, 2023, Golden was among 12 Democrats to vote for a resolution to end the COVID-19 national emergency.

Criminal justice reform
Golden was one of two Democrats to vote against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. In a statement after the vote, Golden said the bill "includes many good provisions that would bring about positive change", mentioning the establishment of a national registry for police misconduct, increased data collection, encouragement of deescalation tactics, and banning chokeholds unless deadly force is authorized. But he expressed concern about the provision that would restrict qualified immunity and lamented that there had "been no negotiations since the legislation's first passage, and the bill before us retains those same problematic changes".

Education
On May 24, 2023, Golden was one of only two House Democrats, along with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, to vote with Republicans to overturn President Biden's student loan debt cancellation plan.

Foreign policy
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Golden organized a letter, signed by himself and other members of Congress, advocating for President Biden to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Golden rejected calls for a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. He voted in favor of a bill that would provide an additional $14.3 billion to support Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Guns
Golden was the only Democrat to vote against the Bipartisan Background Checks Act to expand background checks on gun purchases and one of two House Democrats, along with Ron Kind of Wisconsin, to vote against the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021, designed to close the so-called Charleston loophole. Both bills passed the House in March 2021.

In 2022, Golden was one of two Democrats, the other being lame duck Kurt Schrader of Oregon, to vote against raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.

On July 29, 2022, Golden and four other Democrats joined Republicans, aside from two who declined to run again for reelection, in voting against a bill banning assault weapons.

However, following the 2023 Lewiston shootings in his hometown that killed more than 20 people, Golden reversed his position on October 26, 2023, apologizing and calling for Congress to ban assault weapons.

Following the 2023 Lewiston shootings and his reversal on an assault weapons ban, Golden said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, "I really believe that any law-abiding and competent citizen should have fairly easy access to firearms." But, he said he began asking himself difficult questions in the wake of the shooting. "Am I going to start carrying an AR-15 slung over my shoulder when I go to the grocery store, when I go to a restaurant?" he said, noting that the odds of being in the right place to stop an active shooter were slim. "And what responsibilities do I have as a leader of the community?" he said.

Immigration
On May 8, 2024, Golden voted against the "Equal Representation Act." This proposed law would have required that when counting the population of each state to determine the number of U.S. Representatives, noncitizens who are ineligible to vote would be excluded from the count.

LGBT rights
On December 8, 2022, Golden voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and federally protect same-sex and interracial marriages.

On July 14, 2023, Golden was one of four Democrats who voted with the majority of House Republicans to pass the annual defense policy bill, which included provisions prohibiting Pentagon spending on abortion and transgender surgeries.

Marijuana policy
Golden has an "A" rating from NORML for his voting record on cannabis-related matters.

Trade
Golden was one of 38 Democrats to vote against the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement Implementation Act. Explaining his vote, he said the law's labeling requirements would not be enough to keep international companies from misbranding products, putting Maine's businesses at a disadvantage. He said he was skeptical it would be enforced sufficiently to protect workers, saying "we have a bad track record" in doing so with other trade deals.

Committee assignments
In the 118th Congress:
 * Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation
 * Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
 * Committee on Small Business
 * Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access
 * Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Regulations
 * Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains

Caucus memberships

 * Blue Dog Coalition
 * For Country Caucus (co-chair)
 * Problem Solvers Caucus

Electoral history
% (gross) = percent of all valid votes cast (without eliminating the exhausted votes)

% (net) = percent of votes cast after eliminating the exhausted votes

% (gross) = percent of all valid votes cast (without eliminating the exhausted votes)

% (net) = percent of votes cast after eliminating the exhausted votes

% (gross) = percent of all valid votes cast (without eliminating the exhausted votes)

% (net) = percent of votes cast after eliminating the exhausted votes

Personal life
Golden's wife Isobel (née Moiles) served as a city councilor in Lewiston from 2016 to 2018. They have two daughters. Golden has at least five tattoos from his time serving in the U.S. military, including a Celtic Sun Cross tattoo on his forearm and a "devil dog".