RUMFORD, Maine — Upstart Democrat Jared Golden is warning national party leaders that cultural intolerance and arrogant cosmopolitanism are driving away working-class voters.
Golden could oust Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin in Tuesday’s midterm elections in a rural district that backed President Trump two years ago and still supports his agenda, delivering a potentially fatal blow to the GOP’s teetering majority. But the state legislator and Marine combat veteran arrived here by separating himself from the coastal liberals that have come to dominate the Democratic Party in the 21st century.
“It’s not just about cultural issues like guns or others. It is, I think, a very black and white, who are you fighting for, who do you represent? Are you with special interests; are you with big corporations; are you with CEOs, are you with groups that might want to fund your campaigns? Or are you with working people,” Golden told the Washington Examiner in an interview as he campaigned across Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
Golden’s authentic, everyman image isn’t convincing everyone.
Over an early lunch at the Pop Shoppe Diner in Lewiston, Golden’s home base, retired short-order cook Paul Cote, 57, said he’s sticking with Poliquin. “He’s cocky,” Cote said of the Democrat. “I don’t think he’s right for it.” And yes, Cote is a big fan of Trump. “He’s not afraid to open his mouth; he’s not afraid to talk,” he said.
Golden, 36, is trying to something that hasn’t been done in more than 100 years: oust a 2nd District incumbent. Maine’s ranked-choice voting, used to decide races in which the winner falls short of 50 percent of the vote, could be a boost. On the trail and in television ads, Golden is casting himself as an old school “labor Democrat” — culturally conservative but liberal on fiscal issues.
He is aligned with Trump on trade and immigration, opposed to the Republicans’ $1.3 trillion tax overhaul, favors an expanded role for government in healthcare (including adding a “public option” to Obamacare’s insurance offerings), and against attempts to ban assault-style weapons or other firearms or raise the minimum age to purchase them.
“Look, I’m not for these things; I’m not with the national party on this in many instances,” Golden said, explaining his position on Second Amendment rights. “I had a canvasser from a more urban area say: ‘Oh geez, I went to a home and the whole family was out back doing target practice.’ Well, welcome to Maine; that’s normal.”
With just four days left to campaign before the vote, Golden spent most this remaining precious time in Rumford, a blue-collar community of about 6,000 in the hills of Western Maine, where the largest employer is the union-organized paper mill. Golden lunched with supporters, visited the high school, and spent two hours stumping for votes outside the mill as workers entered and departed for a shift change.
Golden, on Friday dressed in jeans, work boots and checkered flannel, has made inroads in a district that voted for President Barack Obama but has essentially become Trump country. The welcome mat Golden put out for cultural conservatives could be the biggest threat to Poliquin, even though voters are most concerned about healthcare and a booming national economy that hasn’t found its way to many corners of Maine’s 2nd.
It’s evident in the Poliquin campaign’s furious focus on gun rights.
As Golden was shaking hands with mill workers here, two Poliquin campaign workers showed up. Positioning themselves about 25 yards in front of the Democrat, they handed out bright orange, postcard-sized flyers highlighting Golden’s “D” rating from the National Rifle Association, and Poliquin’s “A” rating. The NRA is highly influential with gun owners and other voters who prioritize protecting the Second Amendment.
“Jared Golden is definitely ANTI-gun. He has a ‘D’ rating from the NRA,” Poliquin campaign spokesman Brendan Conley said in an email. “He is trying hard to hide from that.”
