Austin Theriault wins Maine GOP primary for chance to unseat Jared Golden

AUGUSTA, Maine — Former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault easily defeated fellow state lawmaker Mike Soboleski in Tuesday’s Republican primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, setting up a showdown with U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in November.

While Soboleski argued he had a stronger conservative voting record than Theriault, the Trump endorsement was important in the race between two candidates who each touted their support for the ex-president ….

Theriault repeatedly highlighted Trump’s endorsement in debates, interviews and ads. His pugnacious primary campaign was far different against the one he crafted during his 2022 race for the St. John Valley seat long held by the legendary former House Speaker John Martin, a Democrat from Eagle Lake, when he backed keeping Maine’s permissive abortion laws in place.

He is primed to run aggressively against Golden in the general election, mentioning border security, support for small businesses and drug overdoses as among key issues he feels Golden and Biden are not doing enough on nationally and in the sprawling, rural 2nd District.

A Golden campaign spokesperson said the campaign was “glad for this outcome” and the November contest “is the race we wanted.“

Yet Republicans see an opportunity to bring their voters home against Golden after he abruptly reversed himself to back a ban on so-called assault weapons after the October mass shooting in his home city. Theriault has also campaigned against the Inflation Reduction Act, a climate-tax bill championed by Biden that Golden supported last year.

At the polls in Fort Kent, Theriault’s supporters expressed pride Tuesday in his northern Maine roots while highlighting his younger age.

“He really is there to support the people,” Tracy Caron, a restaurant owner from Fort Kent, said. ...

I was in Maine at the time of that election.

Maine 2nd District. I was up there during the 2016 election cycle in Boothbay, watching the New England Patriots in a crowded bar on the water, couldn’t hear the television, but a political commercial came on.

The guy was young clean-cut guy, on the shooting range with an AR-15 (IIRC) and apparently talking about his military service in Iraq. I couldn’t hear it, but it was pretty clear, showing him shooting, then in uniform in Iraq as the commercial progressed. A combat veteran. Gun owner. Seemed pretty good.

I was impressed from the commercial visuals, and even though I had no idea, he seemed to be marketing his campaign to people like me.

So, armed with a strictly visual impression (remember, no sound) I looked him up later that night when I got back to where we were staying, and was aghast at that candidate.

He was NOT someone I would have supported, ever. Particularly his stance on the 2nd Amendment. It was astonishing, the gulf between the visual impression and the facts of the candidacy.

That was the first time I had ever heard of Jared Golden.

And it was the first time I ever heard the term “Ranked Choice Voting”.

When I looked it up, it was clear that Ranked Choice Voting was a Leftist construction to slant elections in their direction.

That has been confirmed for me when I hear it being advocated for by Leftists all over the country.

For more about last week's primaries:

This Week's Primaries; Hysteria in Maine; The Last Sane Senate Democrat?

The portion which is pertinent to Maine:

The focus in Maine was on the winnable second congressional district which has been held by Democrat Jared Golden since his surprising "Rigged Choice Voting" victory in 2018. Maine voters (mostly Democrats) had just approved a ballot initiative implementing the RCV scheme which took effect in 2018, and those Democrats were delighted when Golden defeated incumbent moderate Republican Bruce Poliquin thanks solely to the provisions of Rigged Choice Voting; without that, Poliquin was the winner.

Golden is extremely well-funded by left-wing labor unions and the "Israel Lobby", and in the past he has done a good job of fooling the voters of CD-2 by faking to the center whenever necessary. The district is rated as R+6 -- that's not even particularly "marginal"; it's an outright Republican district. Trump won CD-2 in both 2016 and 2020, taking the electoral vote which goes with that victory. Alterations to CD-2 in the most recent redistricting were not significant.

As mentioned, Golden has become adept at fooling the voters; yes, he is in fact one of the more "moderate" Democrats in the House, which only means that instead of being 98% liberal he is normally merely 88% liberal. However this year Golden is running scared to an extent which he never has before. In 2024, Golden has broken with his party over 40% of the time on Party Unity votes and on "key" votes he has actually voted with the GOP a whopping 60% of the time. Golden has suddenly become a true moderate; of course the liberal media now considers him a "conservative", which like most everything in the liberal media, is gaslighting propaganda.

Golden was unopposed in this week's primary. His Republican challenger (pictured above) in November will be former NASCAR driver and racing champion Austin Theriault. Theriault, a freshman member of the Maine House, defeated fellow freshman legislator Michael Soboleski in what was apparently a real bloodbath of a primary. Theriault was endorsed by Donald Trump back in March, and he was in part financially supported by NASCAR team owners such as Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and Bill McAnally.

Theriault also received contributions from some of his prospective colleagues in the House, including Austin Scott, Mike Turner, Gus Bilirakis, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Lisa McClain, Bob Latta, Nathaniel Moran and Tom Emmer. That's pretty much an All-Squish All-Star team. Or, more accurately, the Squish Team's triple-A minor league affiliate.

Anyone who can knock off the Golden Boy in November is OK with us now, but Soboleski was the true conservative in the race. He had comparatively little money and probably lesser name recognition, and Theriault thrashed him by 32 points (66.1% to 33.9%). We referenced the likelihood of that outcome at the end of a commentary which was posted three months ago.

One day after Theriault's resounding win, John Andrews (a member of the Maine House who served as Soboleski's campaign manager) blew a gasket, declaring:

"I've just resigned my seat in the Maine State House of Representatives. I can't be a part of anything that supports Austin Theriault. Paris [Andrews' home town in Maine] voted for Theriault. That made up my mind. I'm sorry, but I'm done standing up for anything in this community. I'm officially retired from politics. This absolutely disgusts me." Andrews' "resignation" was merely symbolic and utterly meaningless seeing as how the Maine legislature has already adjourned for the year and Andrews was not running for re-election anyway. He did not elaborate on what the real problem was here, but it's probably spelled T-r-u-m-p. However, like Soboleski, Andrews is also normally a conservative and his voting record backed up that description.

It is therefore possible that Trump wasn't the main point of contention. In every story about this 27,000 square-mile district, the liberal media makes sure to note that it was once the site of a "mass shooting"; Theriault is a supporter of the Second Amendment, which according to the media (and probably John Andrews) makes Theriault somehow personally responsible for that massacre.

Golden's financial advantages and his experience with manipulating the voters of the second district will be difficult to overcome, but the GOP has put this House seat at or near the top of its list of potential pickups, and for good reason. An R+6 district is likely to come to its senses sooner or later, and 2024 may be the year that happens.

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