Politics
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State Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, on Wednesday ended the hand recount of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race that confirmed U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s win by the slimmest margin in modern Maine history.
The recount of the more than 400,000 ballots cast in the 2nd District race began Monday before Theriault’s campaign announced it was ending it Wednesday. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Theriault’s campaign ended the recount after staff had reviewed about 100,000 ballots from Aroostook County, Kennebec County, Bangor and “much of” Lewiston.
It affirmed a ranked-choice runoff done in November that found Golden, a Democrat and Marine veteran in office since 2019, beat Theriault, a former NASCAR driver, by a 50.35 percent to 49.65 percent margin, or about 2,700 votes.
The runoff happened after neither candidate received at least 50 percent of first-choice votes due to nearly 13,000 ballots going for write-in candidate Diana Merenda or leaving top choices blank.
Theriault had requested a recount following the Nov. 5 election after the results fell within the 1.5-percentage-point difference that allows for a state-funded recount. His campaign said Wednesday that all “outstanding questions” it had about counts in certain towns were answered by the recount process.
“I want to congratulate Jared Golden and wish him the best of luck representing our beautiful home,” Theriault said. “I look forward to working with him, the rest of the delegation and the Maine people to continue to fight for our state.”
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and her staff worked with representatives from each campaign to review paper ballots. The race was the most expensive U.S. House race in Maine history, with outside groups spending $25 million.
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Golden won a fourth term amid Theriault trying to tie the moderate congressman to national Democrats and Theriault touting his endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump. Golden held onto his seat in the rural district that Trump has won three times by carrying an influential share of split-ticket voters who have backed Republicans in races at other levels.
Golden said Theriault called him Wednesday afternoon to concede the race.
“I’ll keep the content of our conversation private, but I appreciate Austin’s service in Augusta and his dedication to the people of Maine,” Golden said.