Maine Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat in a swing district that Republicans are targeting this cycle, said he was not rattled by President Biden’s “poor” debate performance because it’s been clear to him for months that the incumbent will lose in November.
“While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that,” Mr. Golden wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Bangor Daily News.
Mr. Golden’s acceptance of a potential victory for the presumed Republican nominee is at odds with most in his party, but plays into his above-the-party persona that helped the centrist get elected and survive in a district that Mr. Trump carried in the previous two presidential election cycles.
“Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy. I reject the premise,” Mr. Golden wrote. “Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.”
That takeaway was especially notable coming the day after the Supreme Court ruled ex-presidents like Mr. Trump should have broad immunity from prosecution for official actions taken while in office, while deferring to the lower courts to decide what actions qualify as official. Democrats decried the ruling as an invitation for Mr. Trump, who has already been convicted of felony charges in New York and is facing trial on three additional indictments, to wreak havoc on the country if he is elected to a second term.
Mr. Golden is not putting his faith in Mr. Trump but rather an American democracy can that “has withstood civil war, world wars, acts of terrorism and technological and societal changes that would make the Founders’ heads spin.”
“Pearl-clutching about a Trump victory ignores the strength of our democracy,” he said. “Jan. 6, 2021, was a dark day. But Americans stood strong. Hundreds of police officers protected the democratic process against thousands who tried to use violence to upend it. Judges and state election officials upheld our election laws. Members of Congress, including leaders from both parties, certified the election results.”
Maine state Rep. Austin Theriault, the Republican challenging Mr. Golden in November’s congressional election, issued a statement in response to the op-ed calling Mr. Golden a “phony.”
“Simple questions for Jared Golden: Does he support Joe Biden for president or not? Does Golden believe Biden is mentally competent or not?” Mr. Theriault said. Golden won’t say, because he puts politics ahead of Mainers.”
Mr. Golden said the November elect
Mr. Golden said the November election is about the economy, not democracy, as he argued that congressional elections, like his own, matter far more than the presidential race.
“Some of Congress’ best work in recent years has happened in spite of the president, not because of him,” Mr. Golden said. “A handful of responsible Democrats, including myself and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, rejected Biden’s bloated ‘Build Back Better’ bill and instead passed a law that supercharged American energy production, saved Medicare billions of dollars and reduced the deficit.”
Mr. Golden also credited Congress for writing and passing bipartisan laws funding domestic semiconductor manufacturing and infrastructure projects, without mentioning the Biden administration’s involvement in negotiating both deals with lawmakers, or Mr. Biden’s willingness to sign the final product.
But Mr. Golden did not exempt Mr. Trump from his argument that lawmakers matter more than presidents. He noted the centrist members of Congress that “stood up to the GOP establishment who tried to hijack Trump’s agenda to achieve their long-held goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act.”
With Trump likely to be in back in the White House next year, Mr. Golden said, he will “work with him when it benefits Mainers, hold him accountable when it does not, and work independently across the aisle no matter what.”
He cited plans to support Mr. Trump’s trade policies “that would reverse the harms of globalization and protect American businesses from unfair foreign competition,” while opposing “the GOP [Old Guard] who will use a Trump presidency as cover for handouts to the wealthy and powerful at the cost of America’s working families and communities.”
Mr. Golden urged voters, elected officials and the media to “ignore the chattering class’s scare tactics and political pipe dreams,” because democracy is not as fragile as “party insiders in smoke-filled back rooms” suggest.
“This Independence Day, we should reflect on the history and strength of our great democracy, safe in the knowledge that no one man is strong enough to take it away from us,” he said.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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