Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), one of the most endangered House Democrats of the 2026 cycle, surprised Washington and Maine Wednesday announcing he will not seek reelection.
Golden faced a competitive primary and general election, but his announcement in an op-ed published in the Bangor Daily News surprised Washington and Maine politicos.
“Recently, it became clear that now is the right time to step away from elected office,” he wrote, adding, “I have grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves.”
Golden’s announcement comes hours after Zohran Mamdani (D) won New York City’s mayoral race. The Democrat Party’s embrace of Zohran — who won over 50 percent of the vote in a crowded general election that included former Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo running as an independent — completed the party’s transformation away from its blue collar, working class American roots to one dominated by East Coast elitists and foreign-born socialists that values multiculturalism above Americanism.
The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) and other Republican campaign groups have vowed to hang the Democrat Party’s embrace of Mamdani’s radical policies around the neck of every Democrat in the 2026 midterms.
“Serial flip-flopper Jared Golden’s exit from Congress says it all: He’s turned his back on Mainers for years and now his chickens are coming home to roost,” NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said. “He, nor any other Democrat, has a path to victory in ME-02 and Republicans will flip this seat red in 2026.”
Golden insisted he would win if he ran, touting the support of his own party despite him being the lone House Democrat to vote for the House-passed continuing resolution to prevent the government shutdown by preserving spending levels passed during the Biden administration.
“My record of winning the most challenging district held by any Democrat — of outperforming the top and bottom of the ticket four times — speaks for itself,” he said. “Regardless of what angry partisan commentators may say, I retain the trust of the coalition of Democrats, Independents and Republicans that has repeatedly defied the trends of political polarization by electing me.”
Golden critiqued his own party for triggering the shutdown and their broader embrace of extremism:
We’re allowing the most extreme, pugilistic elements of our party to call the shots. Just look again at the shutdown. For as long as I can remember, we have opposed shutting down the government over policy disputes. We criticized Republicans for taking hostages this way. But this year, reeling from the losses of the last election, too many Democrats have given into demands that we use the same no-holds barred, obstructionary [sic] tactics as the GOP.
Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage is polling at 49 percent to Golden’s 44 percent, Breitbart News reported in October, the latest trouble for the incumbent who is one of the top targets for Republican campaign groups in the 2026 cycle.
That same poll shows his favorability two points below those of State Auditor Matt Dunlap, his primary challenger.
Maine’s Second Congressional District is one of thirteen that voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 currently represented by Democrats. The district also voted for LePage in each of his three prior runs for governor.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
