Maine Rep. Jared Golden was the only Democrat in the House to vote for the Republican-led government funding bill. After doing so, he drew a primary challenger.
Democrats don’t allow independence.
Democrat State Auditor Matthew Dunlap plans a showdown with Golden for the seat.
In a statement, Golden said he represents a district that is “fiercely independent.”
“It’s one of the most ideologically diverse districts in the country, and deserves someone who represents it as it is,” he said.
Golden also broke ranks to vote with Republicans last month on a funding bill to avert a government shutdown, which was blocked by Senate Democrats.
Defending the vote in a statement, Golden said that the shutdown “is the result of hardball politics driven by the demands far-left groups are making for Democratic Party leaders to put on a show of their opposition to President Trump.
Dunlap pointed to Golden’s support earlier this year for the SAVE Act – GOP legislation that would have required proof of citizenship to vote – saying that it was “just inexplicable to me.”
“I feel like we have one of the best election systems in the country,” said Dunlap who served as Maine’s secretary of state from 2005 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2021. “People ask me about the SAVE Act vote, and I said, well, it really wasn’t a tipping point, but it was a weathervane. It told me where people are.”
Dunlap sounds like he’s in lala land.
Golden, meanwhile, referred to Dunlap as a “30-year party crony” who was trying “to recreate himself as a progressive.”
On the Republican side, former two-term Gov. Paul LePage announced a campaign for the district seat in May, writing on social media that “we’ve had too many years of Washington, D.C. trying to control the people. It is time to put the people before politics.”
It’s nice to hear a Democrat recognize that the far-left is making demands to shut the government down.
How about she switch parties now?