Jared Golden


Jared Forrest Golden is an American politician and 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, covers the northern four-fifths of the state, including Lewiston, Bangor and Auburn. Golden is the first member of Congress elected by ranked-choice voting. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a United States Marine.

Early life

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 without finishing a degree to join the United States Marine Corps in 2002, serving 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 and was elected to the Maine House in 2014, representing part of the city of Lewiston. He was reelected in 2016. In the subsequent legislative session, he became Assistant Majority Leader in the Maine House of Representatives.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

On August 24, 2017, Golden announced his candidacy against Bruce Poliquin to serve in the United States House of Representatives for. On June 20, 2018, he was declared the winner of the Democratic primary.
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. Exit polls indicated that 90% of the independents' supporters ranked Golden as their second choice, which on paper was enough to give Golden the victory. 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 be 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.

Tenure

Golden was sworn in as U.S. Representative 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.

Committee assignments

On February 6, 2020, Golden endorsed Colorado Senator Michael Bennet for president.

Electoral history

% = percent of all valid votes cast
% = percent of votes cast after eliminating the exhausted votes
% = percent of all valid votes cast
% = percent of votes cast after eliminating the exhausted votes

Personal life

Golden's wife, Isobel, served as a city councilor in Lewiston from 2016 to 2018.