U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (left) and his Republican challenger, Maine Rep. Austin Theriault. (Campaign photos)
Although U.S. Rep. Jared Golden already gave his victory speech, the race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District is not final.
Because there was an unofficial write-in candidate, in addition to Golden and Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault, the race used ranked-choice voting. Since no candidate secured more than 50% of the vote, there will need to be ranked-choice tabulations, according to a Thursday night news release from the Maine Department of the Secretary of State.
Theriault, who is trailing Golden by half a percentage point or roughly 2,200 votes, has also said he will seek a recount, which will occur after next week’s ranked-choice tabulations, according to the release.
“We were significantly outspent, but the closeness of our race against a three-term incumbent is a testament to your hard work and commitment to improving our country,” Theriault wrote on social media.
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District is among the outstanding races that could determine the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans already claimed victory in securing the U.S. Senate, and have flipped several Democratic districts red. Complete control of Congress would give president-elect Donald Trump a significant boost in enacting his sweeping agenda.
Trump won Maine’s 2nd District with 53.2% of the vote, though Democratic nominee Kamala Harris clinched the 1st District and statewide vote
Golden had 48.65% of the vote and Theriault had 48.11%, according to data the department said it received from municipalities.
The unofficial write-in candidate, Diana Merenda, received 420 first-choice votes, which is one-tenth of a percentage point. Another 12,600 ballots left their first choice blank.
For the ballots that listed Merenda first or left their first choice blank, the tabulation will look to second-choice votes to award to Theriault or Golden.
Merenda launched her long-shot campaign in protest of the two candidates’ support for Israel in its ongoing war on Gaza.
Both the recount and the ranked-choice tabulations are open to the public. Tabulations will take place in Augusta and streamed on the department’s YouTube page.
Golden’s campaign released a statement late Thursday saying the congressman agrees to the recount, but would rather do that than “incur the delays and expenses of a ranked-choice run-off.” The campaign also said that Golden had more than 50% of first-choice votes on Tuesday when clerks reported returns, so a run-off shouldn’t be necessary.
“Voters have a right to see elections decided both accurately and expediently,” the statement said.
Maine law does not require recounts, but they can be requested. In very close races — 1% or less of the apparent margin of victory — they can be requested without a candidate needing to pay a deposit. During that process, representatives for each candidate along with department staff will manually review each paper ballot.
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