Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website.
NORTHEAST: Political Note #406 Jared Golden ME 02, Political Note #363 Tom Malinowski NJ 07, Political Note #394 Susan Wild PA 07, Political Note #397 Eugene DePasquale PA 10
SOUTHEAST: Political Note #385 Carolyn Bordeaux, Political Note #388 Elaine Luria VA 02
MIDWEST: Political Note # 398 David Palmer IL 13, Political Note #376 Lauren Underwood IL 14, Political Note #398 David Palmer IL 13, Political Note #378 Elissa Slotkin MI 08, Political Note #357 Haley Stevens MI 11, Political Note #355 Angie Craig MN 02
SOUTHWEST: Political Note #389 Tom O’Halleran AZ 01, Political Note #356 Susie Lee NV 03, Political Note #375 Steven Horsford NV 04, Political Note #377 Lizzie Fletcher TX 07, Political Note #362 Vicente Gonzalez TX 15, Political Note #399 Colin Allred TX 32
WEST: Political Note #403 Jay Chen CA 39, Political Note #383 Harley Rouda CA 48, Political Note #404 Kerry Donovan CO 03, Political Note #384 Peter DeFazio OR 04.
SPECIAL ELECTIONS: Political Note #364 Jana Lynne Sanchez TX 06 (lost), Political Note #382 Melanie Stansbury NM 01 (won), Political Note #393 Allison Russo OH 15 (Special Election is in November, 2021)
August 21, 2021 Political Note #406 Jared Golden ME 02
2022 General Election
Jared Golden https://jaredgoldenforcongress.com is the only Member of Congress to have been elected by Ranked Voting. Ranked Voting was used for the first time in Maine in 2018. It didn’t matter much for Janet Mills, who was elected governor. It didn’t matter much for Chellie Pingree, who was reelected to Maine’s First Congressional District.
Without Ranked Voting, Jared Golden would not have been elected to Congress in Maine’s Second Congressional District. The Republican candidate led after the votes were counted, but he did not have a majority. When third and fourth place candidates’ votes were redistributed, Jared Golden gained a majority. He was elected to Congress and is still there.
Jared Golden was reelected in 2020; even though Donald Trump carried the district. Jared Golden is a fit for a Congressional District that leans Republican. As a Democrat, he is sometimes a contrarian. After the 2018 election, as he had promised in his campaign, he did not vote for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker. He was one of three Democrats voting against Article II to impeach Trump in the first trial. He was one of two Democrats to oppose the American Rescue Plan – expressing concern about the cost. He was one of two Democrats to vote against enhancing background checks for the purchase of guns. He is one of the nine Democrats pressing for an immediate vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan, contrary to the leadership’s expectation that the infrastructure plan and the budget reconciliation would be addressed at that same time. A former intern for Republican Senator Susan Collins, he has said he would never campaign against her.
No one claims that Jared Golden’s votes and positions are intended to curry favor with Republicans and conservatives in his district. These positions reflect who he is. Being a Democrat reflects his views. He is just not a mainstream Democrat.
Jared Golden grew up in Maine – on the golf course that his parents owned. Privately owned, the golf course was open to the public and was a serious enough course for tournaments. He spent his summers with the workers, taking meticulous care of the golf course. He got on with the workers and the golfers. He seemed to be where he belonged when he was outdoors on the golf course.
When it was time to go to college, Jason Golden went local – to Farmington State. After 9/11, he dropped out and joined the Marines. He was trained to carry a rocket launcher and an assault rifle. Instead of being in Farmington, Maine, he was in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had a tough war.
Jared Golden recalls being in a fighting hole on a mountain top in Afghanistan waiting for air assistance. He recalls his unit in Iraq being hit by an Improvised Explosive Devise 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 he was still there after Hussein was out of office.
Jared Golden’s diagnosis when he 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 interviewed Jared Golden. Not exactly an interview, the Dean began chatting with him. Jared Golden would tell his story – interestingly, persuasively. He was encouraged to apply and was admitted to Bates with enough financial aid and work-study to make that admission possible for him.
Jared Golden worked as 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 went to work. He worked in Baghdad in what was called logistics. He called it moving offices from one place to another. Then he moved to Washington to work for Senator Susan Collins. Even so, he remained a Democrat. It may have been his father’s influence. His father had been particularly fond JFK.
Jared Golden returned home to work in Augusta, Maine’s capital; this time for Democrats. No longer a student, he did two grown up things. He ran for State Representative from Lewiston in 2014 and won. He got married and bought a house for less than $100,000. He became part of the Democratic leadership in the Maine House of Representatives and, in 2018, ran for Congress.
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 has said that an investigation was essential.
We need Jared Golden https://jaredgoldenforcongress.com in the House of Representatives. There are three Republicans who think they can defeat him in the general election, one of whom is Bruce Poliquin, the Congressman Jared Golden ousted. In an echo of Donald Trump (or maybe the other way around), Poliquin believes the election was stolen from him, that Ranked Choice Voting is unconstitutional (He lost in court) and he should be the incumbent now.
We need every seat we can win in Congress. When Republicans around the country finish redistricting, they will have done what they can to ensure they can get a Republican Congress. The situation is not hopeless. The census shows population gains that make the country more diverse and potentially, more Democratic. If the alignment of Democrats and Republicans after the 2022 elections resembles the current alignment, representatives like Jared Golden will make the difference between a Republican and a Democratic Congress. Help Jared Golden win and you help the Democrats around the country win.
Some candidates working to flip Republican House Seats
California 39 Jay Chen https://chenforcongress.com
California 48 Harley Rouda https://harleyforcongress.com
Colorado 03 Kerry Donovan https://kerrydonovanforcongress.com
Illinois 13 David Palmer. https://palmerforillinois.com
Ohio 15 Allison Russo https://allisonrusso.co (Special election November, 2021.)
Pennsylvania 10 Eugene DePasquale https://eugeneforcongress.com
Some vulnerable incumbent Democratic Members of Congress. We need to play defense. Choose a few of them to support. If you want to learn about them, look at my Notes about them in the website lenspoliticalnotes.com
These are Members of Congress who won with less than 52% of the vote or are otherwise vulnerable.
Georgia 07 Carolyn Bordeaux https://www.carolyn4congress.com Received 51.39% of the vote in 2020
Iowa 03 Cynthia Axne https://cindyaxneforcongress.com Received 48.9% of the vote in 2020
Illinois 14 Lauren Underwood https://underwoodforcongress.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
Maine 02 Jared Golden https://jaredgoldenforcongress.com Donald Trump carried his district
Michigan 08 Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com Received 50.88% of the vote in 2020
Michigan 11 Haley Stevens https://haleystevensforcongress.com Received 50.2% of the vote in 2020
Minnesota 02 Angie Craig https://angiecraig.com Received 48.21% of the vote in 2020
Nevada 03 Susie Lee https://www.susieleeforcongress.com Received 48.75% of the vote in 2020
Nevada 04 Steve Horsford https://www.stevenhorsford.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
New Mexico 01 Tom O’Halloran https://www.tomohalleran.com Received 51.61% of the vote in 2020
New Jersey 07 Tom Malinowski https://malinowskifornj.com Received 50.61% of the vote in 2020
Oregon 04 Peter DeFazio https://www.defazioforcongress.org Received 51.26% of the vote in 2020
Texas 07 Lizzie Fletcher https://www.lizziefletcher.com Received 50.79% of the vote in 2020
Texas 15 Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com Received 50.5% of the vote in 2020
Texas 32 Colin Allred https://www.colinallred.com Received 51.95% of the vote in 2020
Virginia 02 Elaine Luria https://elaineforcongress.com Received 51.6% of the vote in 2020
Washington 08 Kim Schrier https://www.drkimschrier.com Received 51.79% of the vote in 2020
Organizations to support
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) https://dccc.org
The Democratic National Committee (DNC). https://democrats.org The official organization of the Democratic Party.
Fair Fight https://fairfight.com Promotes fair elections around the country
Three Cautions while donating through Act Blue (most Democratic candidates use Act Blue for online donations)
- Take care to hit the donate button only once. If you hit it a second time, you could be charged for two donations instead of one.
- Take care to watch for an already clicked recurring donation. You can unclick it and donate only once if that is your intent.
- Watch for your receipt. If the receipt indicates a donation different from your intention, reply to Act Blue via the receipt right away. They will fix your donation. They want you to donate only what you intend to donate.
Support Democrats. Sadly, Republicans have become enemies of democracy. And enemies of the public’s health.
