Republican President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate in Maine’s Second Congressional District — a district he won in both 2016 and 2020 — won big Tuesday night in Maine’s most watched primary election.
State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent), a former NASCAR driver who was backed by both former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and current GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), cruised to a landslide victory and will now face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in November.
Theriault ended the night with 66.5 percent of the vote to Soboleski’s 33.5 percent.
Theriault’s opponent, State Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips), struggled to raised money throughout his campaign and struggled more to overcome former President Trump’s endorsement of Theriault, delivered via Truth Social posts.
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
Soboleski and Theriault, each one-term State Reps., are both relative newcomers to Maine’s political scene.
While Soboleski boasted more endorsements from his Republican colleagues in the State Legislature and a more conservative voting record, the younger Theriault was a more successful fundraiser with deeper connections to the national GOP apparatus.
Although the candidates traded rancorous barbs early in the campaign, the three primary debates — including one moderated by the Maine Wire — wound up tepid affairs.
While both candidates campaigned on strident support for Trump, Theriault was able to secure the Republican standard-bearer’s endorsement and incorporated that stamp-of-approval into his advertisements and yard signs.
Little more than an hour after the polls in CD-2 closed, the Associated Press called the race for Theriault.
On the campaign trail in the leadup to the June 11 primary, Soboleski touted his conservative voting record in Augusta over Theriault’s more liberal stances, based on vote analyses from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Theriault countered these claims in debates by defending his support of opioid harm-reduction proposals, like so-called safe injection sites.
While Soboleski branded Theriault “Establishment Austin,” Austin and his allies sent mailers and less public communications flagging comments Soboleski made in an interview last year with Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson in which the Franklin County Republican said that he was “pro-choice.”
Although Soboleski, moments later, said he supported a staunchly pro-life “heart beat bill,” which would prohibit abortion after an unborn baby’s heart beat can be detected, the comment describing himself as pro-choice was a quip destined to harm him in a GOP primary.
[RELATED: Exotic Dancers, Tax Liens & Debauchery: Maine’s CD2 Republican Primary Is Getting Fiery…]
Theriault, a Fort Kent native, out raised Soboleski by a wide margin, and gained the backing of top figures in the national Republican Party.
Trump reiterated his endorsement of Theriault in a post to his Truth Social platform on the eve of the Tuesday primary, writing that Theriault has his “Complete and Total Endorsement!”
“Former NASCAR Driver Austin Theriault is running for Congress in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District against Democrat Jared Golden, who poses as a ‘bipartisan politician,’ but is instead completely beholden to the Radial Left,” Trump wrote Monday.
[RELATED: Trump Endorses Austin Theriault for Maine CD2, Slams Jared Golden as ‘beholden to Radical Left’…]
“Jared Golden supports Joe Biden’s Open Borders Agenda, Out-of-Control Spending, and Costly Regulations that hurt Maine’s Great Lobstermen,” he continued. “In Congress, Austin Theriault will work hard to Secure the Border, Protect our always under siege Second Amendment, Stop Crime, Cut Taxes, and Support our Brave Law Enforcement, Military, and Veterans.”
Rep. Golden, for his part, has stated that he would rather go against Theriault than Soboleski come the November general election.
[RELATED: Jared Golden Trolls Austin Theriault, Trump’s Pick for ME-CD2…]
In comments to the Washington Examiner in March, Golden said that he would “rather face a neoliberal like Austin Theriault than another Marine like Mike Soboleski.”
Those comments were likely an attempt to troll the Theriault campaign, and Golden never clarified what exactly he meant by invoking the Beltway insider term “neoliberal.”
Golden, who is co-chair of the House Democrat’s Blue Dog Coalition and has represented Maine CD-2 since 2019, had his image as a moderate bipartisan tarnished when he called for a ban on assault weapons in the aftermath of the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston.
The incumbent Democrat hasn’t said what he intends to do with the assault rifle that his campaign staff have previously bragged about him owning.
[RELATED: Rep. Jared Golden’s Republican 2024 Opponents Slam His Reversal on Assault Weapons Ban…]
Both Theriault and Soboleski slammed Golden for his policy reversal, and prominent election forecaster the Cook Political Report moved Maine’s 2024 2nd District race to a “Democrat Toss Up” after the flip-flop.
Golden’s approval ratings hit a low of 27 percent last fall among CD-2 voters, according to a Critical Insights poll — down from 56 percent in the fall of 2020.
In order to win re-election, Golden will need at least some Trump voters to forgo voting for Theriault.
That may be difficult following Golden’s failure to condemn the widely-panned verdict in a New York City court to convict Trump of 34 felonies based on an unprecedented legal theory.
Nonetheless, Golden remains a well-funded incumbent candidate who can point to his history as a veteran in order to appeal to conservative voters, as he’s done successfully in previous CD-2 elections.
Maine’s 1st Congressional District
In the deep blue liberal stronghold that is Maine’s 1st Congressional District, two Republicans competed on Tuesday for a slim chance at unseating Democratic U.S. Rep Chellie Pingree come November.
Two political newcomers, Andrew Piantidosi and Ronald Russell, ran for the CD-1 Republican nomination in the June 11 primary.
Piantidosi, who is originally from Connecticut and moved to Maine five years ago with his wife and two young children, has spent over a decade working in the software industry and is a part-time teacher in South Portland Schools.
Piantidosi’s platform emphasized parental rights in schools and courts, fiscal responsibility, limiting regulations on affordable housing, and national security.
His opponent was northern Maine native Ronald Russell, who served in the U.S. Army as an Airborne Ranger and Special Forces Green Beret, before starting a small business.
In the leadup to the primary, Russell told WGME that his platform was focused on the economy, closing the southern border to illegal immigrants, the quality of public education and, if elected, working across the political aisle to get things done in Washington.
Tuesday night, Russell won 56.6 percent of the vote and a chance to participate in an uphill battle to convince an overwhelmingly left-wing district to pull the lever for a Republican.
Planned Parenthood Scores Victory in House District 65
Planned Parenthood scored a major victory on Tuesday, as Democratic State Rep. Bruce White lost his primary race for House District 65, part of Waterville, against pro-abortion progressive candidate Cassie Julia.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, White fell to the pro-abortion candidate 490-280 (64 percent to 36 percent).
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s Maine-based Political Action Committee (PAC) spent thousands of dollars on advertisements in favor of Julia and in opposition to Rep. White, who was one of just a handful of House Democrats to vote against Gov. Janet Mills’ later term abortion bill last June.
On her campaign site, Julia boasted that she was endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and was “the only pro-choice primary candidate in this district.”
In the most recent legislative session, Democratic lawmakers voted for — and Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed — one of the most extreme late-term abortion laws in Western Civilization.
White was one of the few Democratic politicians to vote against allowing unborn babies to be aborted at nine months into a pregnancy for any reason.
Portland Democrats Choose Candidate to Fill House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross’ Vacant House Seat
At the close of the 131st Legislature, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross was termed-out of the House, and left her seat representing House District 118 — part of Portland.
Two Democratic candidates, Somali-born former member of the Portland School Board Yusuf Yusuf and former House Rep. Herbert Adams sought their party’s nomination to fill Speaker Talbot Ross’ shoes in the House.
A third Democratic candidate, State Sen. Ben Chipman, withdrew his primary bid on Monday, just a day before the election.
Yusuf Yusuf won the primary 270 to 153, though it’s unclear how many burned votes went to Chipman.
Talbot Ross is now running for the seat in the State Senate previously held by Sen. Chipman, District 28.
Republicans Battle it Out in Senate District 10
In the Hampden area, a Republican husband and wife both launched campaigns for seats in the Legislature next session.
[RELATED: Republican Husband and Wife Run for Seats in Maine House and Senate…]
Republican State Rep. David Haggan, a longtime teacher in RSU 22, was termed out of the House after the last legislative session and decided to run for a seat in the State Senate for District 10, covering the Hampden area in Penobscot and northern Hancock counties.
Rep. Haggan ran in the primary against incumbent State Sen. Peter Lyford, who wrapped up his first term in the Senate this past session.
Haggan told the Maine Wire that he decided to run for the Senate seat last year when he was under the impression that Sen. Lyford would not be going for reelection in District 10.
Lyford said that he was initially not going to run for reelection due to frustration with his committee assignments, but after he was reassigned to different committees, decided to run.
Haggan won the race by several hundred votes.
Haggan’s wife, Kimberly Haggan, also an educator in RSU 22, is running to fill the House seat left vacant by her husband, District 36. She ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
The only reason Golden ever won was the Maine Constitution violating ranked choice voting.
The ME Constitution says “plurality” not “majority”, which means whoever gets the most votes wins.
And Yusuf, great. Another foreigner who will work to keep illegals streaming into the state and who doesn’t care that the taxpayers are broke and and want law abiding people not people who break the law to get here.
There goes the crime rate up again.
Golden is a relentless spreader of the transgender virus.
This nascar idiot is a jew and ukraine loving pile of garbage. Of course, so is golden.
Theriault is nothing more than a corrupt Politician in training …1) he believes there are 3 Genders .2) colluding with Troy Jackson to have his Father get the “Exclusive ” contract to a Bio Mass plant in Aroostock County . 3) Helped “Fast Track the AFRICANS into FREE HOUSING FOR 2 YEARS in Brunswick while he kicked Maine citizens to the curb. The list goes on and on … The Republi-CUCK party of Maine is nothing more than a bunch of TRANSPLANT GRIFTERS Like Ray Richardson , Demi (The Romney impersonator) Kouzounas.No way is Austin a conservative he is just a Susan Collins with little Balls.