Retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) may no longer have to defend a swing seat, but he’s leaving Washington with a warning: Constant campaigns in competitive seats take a toll.
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District is one of the reddest seats held by a Democrat, as President Donald Trump won the district by 9 points in 2024 over former Vice President Kamala Harris. Yet Golden held the seat for four terms.
But that staying power is something members have said wears them down over time.
“I also think that these districts, the truly competitive ones, they’ll wear anyone down,” Golden told the Washington Examiner.
“I think the job deserves people who have the bandwidth to give it 110% and over time, if you talk to someone like myself or Don Bacon, I think they’ll tell you, it’s pretty hard to deny that it gets a little harder and harder to give all of yourself to it. And eventually everyone comes to a point where they have to ask themselves, ‘Can I keep giving it everything that it deserves? Or is it time to let someone else step up and try and bring it?’” Golden continued.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who holds a Democratic-leaning district, expressed a similar sentiment to the Washington Examiner last year after he announced his retirement.
“I just wasn’t sure I was going to have the intensity for a sixth run,” Bacon said.
The two-year House election cycle means members like Golden and Bacon are always in campaign mode.
While these members have reelection to worry about, they are often the few to cross the aisle to get bipartisan priorities done.
“Under the surface, people are still doing good work here, and you get good things done every now and again, that’s why you’re here,” Golden said.
The Maine Democrat has long been one of the most centrist Democrats in Congress and won his seat by less than 1 point in 2024.
He said there are “many factors” to winning a difficult district.
“It starts with knowing your district, seeing it for what it is, and then answering a series of questions about yourself, like what are you doing here?” Golden responded when asked how he kept winning.
Voters head to the polls Tuesday to select Golden’s successor, but the results may not be immediately known, as the state uses a ranked-choice voting system.
“We won’t know today,” Golden said.
“Nine times out of 10 when you look at ranked choice voting around the country, whoever’s in first place at the end, if no one gets 50%, goes on to win,” he went on to explain.
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The seat was previously labeled a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, but is now considered “Likely Republican” after Golden announced his retirement last year. Former Gov. Paul LePage is the presumptive Republican nominee, as he is running unopposed.
Maine will be one of the most closely watched states in the 2026 midterm elections. In addition to this race, Democrats are aiming to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), but the party has been plagued by scandal with its candidate Graham Platner, the presumptive nominee.