Maine State Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, is set to receive support from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s newly formed “Grow the Majority” committee in his bid to challenge Democratic Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) in 2024, according to a Monday Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing.
[RELATED: NASCAR Driver Austin Theriault Joins the Race for Maine’s Second Congressional District…]
Speaker Johnson’s Grow the Majority committee will be the principal fundraising apparatus to support Republicans running for House seats in the 2024 election.
Funds from Grow the Majority will be distributed across 25 House GOP incumbents, 10 nominee funds for key House districts, 20 battleground state Republican Parties, the Republican National Committee, the Congressional Leadership Fund, Speaker Johnson’s committee, and 16 GOP challengers in Democrat-held districts.
Rep. Theriault, a 29-year-old former NASCAR driver, announced his Congressional campaign in September, saying it was time for a “new generation of leaders” to take on the Washington elites, and “for relentless, energetic, and effective leadership for Maine at a national level.”
“Joe Biden has failed us and Jared Golden fails to stand up, speak out, and get the job done for a part of the state that desperately needs leadership,” Theriault said in September. “Golden is a nice guy, but he is still part of the problem.”
Theriault will compete in the primary against State Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) — who also announced his campaign in September — to be the Republican challenger to Golden in 2024.
[RELATED: State Rep Mike Soboleski Officially Announces Campaign for Maine’s Second Congressional District…]
Though Theriault does not yet have an official FEC campaign finance filing publicly available, he said on Oct. 1 — less than a week after announcing his candidacy — that he had “put $100,000 in Mainers’ campaign contributions in the bank.”
It its most recent FEC filing, Rep. Soboleski’s campaign committee reported a total of $12,972 in contributions.
A third Republican CD-2 candidate, Rob Cross, suspended his campaign in early November after accumulating $56,830 in contributions.
Both Theriault and Soboleski recently slammed Golden over his flip-flop on an assault weapons ban following the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston, accusing the Democrat of using the tragedy to push a liberal agenda.
Prominent election forecaster the Cook Political Report moved Maine’s 2024 2nd District race to a “Democrat Toss Up” designation following Golden’s reversal on an assault weapons ban.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="23662 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=23662">2 Comments
Thank you Austin Theriault for stepping up to challenge the Golden Boy. We in Maine badly need new conservative leadership if we are to assure our way of life as well as assure a bright future for our children.
I can’t wait to get rid of the so called “Golden Boy “. It will be an uphill battle with the Rank choice cheating election system. Next Collins and “China” King need to get turfed.