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April 12th Len’s Political Note #719 Jared Golden Maine 02
2026 General Election
I love writing about Jared Golden. He is an improbable figure. A surprising man,
Think about him as an adolescent. His dad owned a golf course. Steve Collins of the Kennebec Journal writes: The “Springbook Golf Club in Leeds, is a casual, friendly place with a working-class vibe — the sort of place where every member of the family worked constantly to keep the grass cut and the weeds at bay.”
The family did actually hire people to cut the grass and fight the weeds. Jared Golden liked hanging out and working with the grass cutters and weed pullers. Of the possibilities, those were the people he liked most to work with. He still does. According the Steve Collins Jared Golden seems awkward at political events. He is uncomfortable with “the suits.” He prefers chatting with the union guys.
After graduating from high school, Jared Golden went to college. Not that he had ever been much of a student, but middle class kids go to college after they graduate from high school. At the University of Maine at Farmington, it became even more clear to him that he got little pleasure from school.
Then an opportunity arose. A war started. Attacked by Islamists sheltered by Afghanistan, the United States struck back. The United States was winning the war. Jared Golden joined the Marines. By the time he signed up in the fall of 2002, instead of going back to Farmington, the war in Afghanistan appeared to be won. The war in Iraq had not begun; would not begin until the spring of 2023.
Jared Golden’s adventure became a nightmare. From his two combat tours of duty, he has recalled being in a fighting hole on a mountain top in Afghanistan waiting for air assistance. He has recalled his unit in Iraq being hit by an Improvised Explosive Device and a friend getting wood fragments in his eyes. He recalls firefights in Iraq, house to house searches for weapons, and his commander being asked why they were still there long after Hussein was out of office.
The diagnosis, when Jared Golden came home, was Post Traumatic Stress. He had terrifying dreams; he would be startled by noise. He got drunk. His father described him as floundering. He worked – but at low wage jobs. Famously (at least in Maine), one of those jobs was at a pizza joint in Lewiston frequented by Bates College students and faculty.
Jared Golden had begun thinking – maybe he could go to a college like Bates. That would give him a future. He told his boss. His boss told one of the regular patrons – Bates Dean of Admissions. The Dean began chatting with him while buying pizza. Jared Golden told his story – interestingly, persuasively. He was encouraged to apply and was admitted to Bates with enough financial aid and work/study aid to make that admission possible for him.
On work/study, Jared Golden was a janitor at Bates. He majored in politics and had interesting conversations with fellow students. He studied Pashto and defended the military. He took a summer job in Afghanistan helping teens. And he graduated.
After graduation, Jared Golden worked in Baghdad for an international logistics company. He moved offices from one place to another. Then he moved himself to Washington to work for Senator Susan Collins. He remained a Democrat which may have been his father’s influence. His father was an admirer of John F. Kennedy.
Jared Golden returned to Maine to work in Augusta, the state capital. This time he worked for Democrats. In Maine, he did two grown up things. He got married and bought a house. The house cost less than $100,000. In 2014, he ran to represent Lewiston in Maine’s House of Representatives and won. He became part of the Democratic leadership in the legislature and, in 2018, ran for Congress. He defeated the incumbent Republican through a kind of quirk. Jared Golden was elected because Maine had introduced ranked choice voting. Jared Golden was ranked 2nd or 3rd choice ahead of the incumbent by enough minor party voters to give him the win.
In Congress, Jared Golden has been particularly interested in the welfare of service members. He has introduced bills or amendments to expand veterans’ access to mental health services and to child care. He co-sponsored bills to make it easier for law enforcement officers and first responders to qualify for Workers’ Compensation due to PTSD. He has earned the support of Labor organizations for his support for infrastructure investments, social security, public health, tuition free public education for the first two years, an end to gender-based wage discrimination, and paid family leave. Furthermore, he has earned the support of NARAL and LGBQT+ organizations.
On January 6, 2021 he issued a statement that he would stay in the Capitol until Congress completes its duty to certify the results of the election. As for investigating the events of January 6, he expressed a preference for a non-partisan 9/11 process, but said an investigation was essential.
Jared Golden earned his reputation as one of the Democrats most conservative House Members by opposing the George Floyd Policing Act because of restrictions on police qualified immunity and opposing gun safety bills. After a mass shooting incident in Lewiston, he changed his view and called for a ban on the sale of assault rifles.
Jared Golden is noted for being the Democrat elected in the most Republican district. Every election, he is considered in jeopardy of losing. In 2024, he won by 2,706 votes. If he wins again in 2026, with your help, the election will be close again. DONATE. Keep him in Congress and gain a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.
The six most vulnerable Democratic House of Representatives winners; the ones whose victories were by the narrowest margins, are:
California 13 Former Assemblyman Adam Gray flipped this seat with a 187 vote win. DONATE. His likely Republican opponent is Javier Lopez, mayor of the small city of Ceres. See Len’s Political Note #716
California 45 Attorney Derek Tran flipped this seat with a 653 votes win. DONATE. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be, though some are urging Michelle Steel to run to get her seat back. See Len’s Political Note #717
Maine 02 Incumbent Jared Golden retained his seat with a 2,706 win. DONATE. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be.
Ohio 09 Incumbent Marcy Kaptur retained her seat with a 2,832 vote win. DONATE. We do not yet know who her Republican opponent will be, though some think her 2024 opponent Derek Merrin will run again. See Len’s Political Note #718
Texas 34 Incumbent Vicente Gonzalez retained his seat with a 5,777 win. DONATE. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be.
North Carolina 01 Incumbent Don Davis retained his seat with a 6,307 win. DONATE. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be.
*Please note. I have used the margin of victory reported in Wikipedia. It is worth noting that in my piece supporting Marcy Kaptur for election in 2024, I identified the 12 most vulnerable Democrats. Two of those twelve lost.
I have also asked you to begin making regular donations for a few 2026 statewide candidates:
Georgia’s US Senator Jon Ossoff. A former Congressional aide and investigative documentary film reporter. He was elected in 2020 (2021 including the runoff) by a 50.6-49.4 margin. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #717
Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs. A former social worker and secretary of state. She was elected in 2022 by a 50.3 – 49.7 margin. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #712
Arizona’s Attorney General Kristin Mayes. A law professor and former Republican state Corporate Commission Member. She was elected Attorney General as a Democrat in 2022 by 280 votes, a 50.01-49.99 margin. DONATE. See Len’s. Political Note #714
Ohio’s Democratic Secretary of State candidate Bryan Hambley. An appealing Dr. Smith goes to Columbus running for an open Republican seat. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #715
Support Democrat Allison Riggs in her effort to stay on the North Carolina Supreme Court. She won the election in November. Her opponent, Republican North Carolina Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin challenged 65,000+ voters who met North Carolina requirements when they registered to vote, but new laws called for additional information from them. The North Carolina Appeals Court gave those 60,000+ voters 15 days to “cure” their ballots (that is, to provide the additional information about themselves the new laws require). The North Carolina Supreme Court stayed the Appeals Court order and has finally ruled.
The state Supreme Court ruled that approximately 60,000 votes did not have to be withdrawn; that the registration of about 5,000 military votes without photo IDs had to be “cured” for their votes to count (presumably through providing photo IDs), and about 200 votes by North Carolina voters who had never lived in the state would be withdrawn from the voter count (these would include, for instance, children of North Carolina ex-patriots who turned 21 while abroad). This ruling probably ensures Allison Riggs’ victory, but does not end the law suit.
Allison Riggs will continue her lawsuit to preserve the voting rights of members of the military and members of the ex-patriot community. You can DONATE and help Justice Riggs continue with her law suits.
