AUGUSTA, Maine — Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, will continue to represent Maine's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives after Republican challenger Austin Theriault on Wednesday ended his requested recount.
The Maine Secretary of State's office confirmed the results of Golden's re-election.
"The recount of the Congressional District 2 validated the result of the ranked-choice voting tabulation," a spokesperson for Shenna Bellows' office shared Wednesday in a statement. "Maine’s municipal clerks, local election workers, and state Elections Division staff again ran a safe, smooth and accurate election. With the professionalism shown by both campaigns we were able to recount about 100,000 ballots in less than three days, confirming that Congressman Golden won re-election."
Golden led the race on election night by 2,000 votes, but Maine state law requires a candidate to win by more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes. The race then went to a ranked-choice runoff after neither candidate surpassed the 50 percent threshold on Election Day, necessitating the shipment of ballots to the state capital for a ranked-choice voting tabulation.
Ten days after Election Day, Golden was declared the winner, winning by an even larger margin after ranked choice tabulations with 50.35 percent of votes, totaling 197,151 votes, with Theriault narrowly trailing behind with 49.65 percent of votes, totaling 194,445.
Even before the ranked-choice process was announced and completed, Theriault requested a formal recount. Because Theriault fell behind by more than 1,000 votes, his campaign was responsible for paying for the recount. Theriault's campaign made a $5,000 deposit to cover the cost of the recount, saying they believed the effort was worth the time and money.
"It has been the honor of my life to run to represent Mainers in Washington," Theriault said Wednesday in a statement. "This was an extremely close and hard-fought race and I'm humbled by the tremendous reception we received from all corners of the district. I want to thank my family, my supporters, all the great volunteers, and the folks who worked so hard on this election."
"I ran this campaign centered around putting People Over Politics, and it's time to do that now. I want to congratulate Jared Golden and wish him the best of luck representing our beautiful home," he continued. "I look forward to working with him, the rest of the delegation, and the Maine people to continue to fight for our state."
Theriault's campaign added that all outstanding questions the campaign had about counts in certain towns have now been answered by the recount process.
The thin margin in the race came in an election in which Republican Donald Trump won the 2nd District, allowing him to collect one of Maine’s four electoral votes. Maine is one of two states that split electoral votes.
Golden issued a statement Wednesday thanking voters and pledging to continue his work in D.C. on behalf of the people of Maine.
“I spoke earlier this afternoon with State Rep. Austin Theriault, who called to concede the race. [...] I appreciate Austin’s service in Augusta and his dedication to the people of Maine,” Golden said. “I’d like to thank the voters for participating in the greatest democracy the world has ever known, and all the staff and volunteers who helped ensure the election’s integrity on Election Day, during the runoff and over the course of this recount. I’m already back in D.C. preparing for the next Congress, where I will continue to work hard with anyone, from any party, to do what’s best for Maine’s working families.”