Progressives Attempting to Enlarge GOP Majority

11/14/25 Daily Caller:

Republicans are licking their chops after progressives helped drive Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden to retire from Congress, with local operatives and party consultants telling the Daily Caller it gives them a clearer path to victory in Golden’s red-leaning district.

“Bottom line on Maine’s 2nd Congressional District: It’s a Republican-leaning district, now absent the one Democrat who could hold it,” a Republican consultant who has worked on congressional and statewide campaigns in the state told the Daily Caller.

Maine has been long regarded as a moderate state Golden is viewed as one of the few Democrats capable of effectively representing the rural 2nd District’s constituents.

“The district has been getting more and more difficult for the Democrats to win for a decade now,” a longtime Maine political operative told the Caller.

Trump won Maine’s 2nd all three times he ran for president, including by almost ten points in 2024.

In 2024, Golden’s campaign messaging straddled both sides of the political spectrum. His ads simultaneously called former President Joe Biden “unfit to serve” while highlighting Republican opposition to abortion. Ahead of Trump’s election last November, Golden said he’d be “OK” if Trump won, accusing his own party of “pearl-clutching” about the ramifications of a Trump presidency. He was one of a handful of Democrats to join Republicans in a vote to reopen the government earlier this week.