Jared Golden

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Golden ran for reelection in 2022 and won the Democratic primary unopposed.