FEC Records Show Tight Financial Contest Between Democrat Incumbent and Republican Challenger in Race for Maine’s Second Congressional District

Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records show a tight financial contest between incumbent U.S. Representative Jared Golden (D-ME-02) and the nearest Republican challenger, former U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin, in the race for Maine’s Second Congressional District.

As of the December 31, 2021 filing deadline, Golden raised $2,136,842.68 for the 2022 election cycle and has $1,426,268.38 on hand. Republican challenger Poliquin took in $1,482,065.91 and has $1,397,129.24 cash on hand in the bank. That’s a cash-on-hand edge for Golden of less than $30,000.

While other candidates have filed FEC paperwork in either the Democrat or Republican primaries, no other candidate has raised any significant amount of funds as of the December 31, 2021 deadline.

This race appears to be shaping up as a rematch of the 2018 election, where Golden defeated then-incumbent Poliquin by just over 3,500 votes or 1.24 percentage points in the last round of Maine’s ranked-choice voting system. The result was controversial because Poliquin led Golden in the first round by slightly over 2,000 votes.

Under Maine’s Ranked Choice Voting program, voters rank their candidate choices on the ballot numerically. If a candidate fails to achieve a majority of the vote, plurality being insufficient, the votes are recalculated based on the voters ranking preference in the subsequent round. The candidate receiving the lowest amount of votes is dropped and their voters’ ranked-choice is redistributed to the candidate they marked next in their rankings. More than one candidate can also be eliminated in a single round if it is statistically impossible for them to move into second place….(Excerpt from the Virginia Star)