Guns emerge as top issue in 2nd Congressional District race

Jared Golden was a 36-year-old state lawmaker making his first bid for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in 2018, when his campaign released a TV ad that raised national eyebrows.

The ad opened with a gun pointed at a distant bullseye, while a narrator accused the Republican incumbent, Bruce Poliquin, of taking “pot shots” at Golden that were “way off target.” And it ends with Golden — a tattooed Marine Corps veteran — carrying his own gun on his shoulder and telling viewers that, unlike Poliquin, he’s a “straight shooter” — just before his shot hits the target exactly hits in the middle.

Over the next five years, Congressman Golden would infuriate gun control advocates and many of his Democratic colleagues in Washington by voting against bills to expand background checks, ban high-capacity ammunition clips, and ban assault weapons.

But on October 25 last year, a gunman killed 18 people in Golden’s hometown of Lewiston. The next day, Golden asked for forgiveness for his previous position about assault weapons and promised action.

“That is why I am now calling on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass murder in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine,” Golden said at a news conference. “For the good of my community, I will work with every colleague to get this done in the time I have left in Congress.”

That’s it a year ago.

Maine’s 2nd District is once again seen as a key battleground in the national parties’ battle for control of the House of Representatives. And Golden’s change of heart on assault weapons — in response to a mass shooting just a half-mile from his family’s home — has become a central theme of the campaign.

Republican challenger Austin Theriault – a state legislator from Fort Kent and former NASCAR driver – has portrayed Golden as a left-wing proponent of gun rights.

“He rejected the Second Amendment,” Theriault said during a debate on News Center Maine. “He now supports… I don’t really know, because you’ve changed it a few times, a gun registry, some kind of gun ban.”

And Theriault’s allies have been hammering Golden for months, including in a National Republican Congressional Committee television ad in which one speaker said he had “reversed his positions on guns” and another called the veteran “a turncoat.”

The heated rhetoric on both sides in TV ads, mailers and other messages highlights the stakes in a race that is a top priority for both national parties.

While Democrats have held the seat of Maine’s Second District in all but four years since 1995, the district itself has taken a decidedly conservative turn in recent decades. Former President Trump won the district in both 2016 and 2020, even as the statewide vote went to the Democratic presidential candidate.

As in other national swing district races, the candidates have battled over issues such as the economy, energy prices, the U.S. southern border, abortion and improving the economic prospects of rural America. But guns have also emerged as a top issue in the 2nd District following Golden’s shift toward assault weapons.

Gun politics has always been complicated in Maine. The state has high gun ownership rates, yet one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the country. And state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have consistently rejected gun control measures passed elsewhere in the Northeast because of Maine’s historic ties to guns and hunting.

But that dynamic changed after last October’s mass shooting. Earlier this year, Maine’s Democratic-controlled Legislature narrowly passed bills that would require background checks on private gun sales and impose a three-day waiting period on gun purchases. They also approved a ban on so-called bump stocks, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat from rural western Maine who, like Golden, is more moderate on gun issues than many in her party .

For his part, Golden said in an appearance on Maine Calling in May that he was unimpressed by the response from his former Democratic colleagues in the Maine House. Golden was a Democratic leader in the House of Representatives before his election to Congress.

“I think they did the wrong things and in some ways I think they did too much, focused on the wrong things,” Golden said.

Instead, Golden says lawmakers should focus on the lethality of the assault weapons used in many mass shootings.

The Lewiston gunman killed 18 and injured 13 in just two minutes, according to an official timeline of the shooting. Golden, who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said during a debate on WAGM-TV in Presque Isle that more people could be alive today if the shooter had a less destructive weapon.

“We’re not going to get rid of all the guns. I and no one here would certainly support that,” Golden said. “But what we can do is have a conversation about how we can reduce fatalities by taking some of these most dangerous firearms off the shelves, or, as I’ve suggested, let’s set some kind of higher threshold for the legal possession of firearms. them.”

Golden’s position has changed since his announcement a year ago. An assault weapons ban does not have the votes to pass Congress. But Golden says state lawmakers could institute consent systems that require owners or potential buyers of assault-style vehicles to pass additional security checks beyond the standard background check. That could help keep these deadlier firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

But to groups like the NRA and Gun Owners of Maine, that sounds a lot like a gun registry — and a first step toward government-run gun seizures. Both groups gave Golden an F rating this year, while his opponent received an A. The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, perhaps the state’s most influential group on gun policy, downgraded Golden from an A to a C while Theriault received an A.

Theriault regularly speaks about the need for investments in mental health care to address mass shootings.

“We need to get serious, and actually my own party should get serious about this too, because it’s always something we’ve struggled with,” Theriault said during a debate co-hosted by WGME and the Bangor Daily News. “But if we want to address this issue of violence and mass shootings in our country, don’t go after the Second Amendment. Let’s talk about making the investments we’ve been waiting for for decades.”

Golden responded by pointing out that Theriault, as a state lawmaker, voted against a state budget this year that provided millions of dollars in additional funding for mental health services, including the Lewiston area, in response to the shooting.

Theriault’s campaign has also highlighted the gun registration angle, including in a new radio ad in which Trump says Golden would be “a disaster for your Second Amendment.”

“We have to get Golden out of there,” Trump said.

Golden has refuted accusations that he supports a “gun registry.” He has also pointed to his decade-long record of taking what he calls a “nuanced” position on guns that aims to balance Second Amendment rights and public safety.

It’s unclear whether Golden’s shift on assault weapons will affect the race in the 2nd District. The limited, nonpartisan polling so far suggests the race is too close to call. And judging by the millions of dollars they’ve spent in recent weeks, the national parties and their ideological allies seem to think the seat is still up for grabs.

Golden said during a mid-October appearance on Maine Calling that he did what he thought was right at the time in October last year. He said he hasn’t changed his position on the need to better regulate assault weapons, despite owning them.

However, when asked how his shift on assault weapons affected the campaign, Golden said, “I think we’ll find out at the poll that matters most, which is Election Day.”