Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, one of the U.S. House’s most vulnerable Democrats, is blasting his Republican challenger, state Rep. Austin Theriault, for failing to stand up for abortion rights in Maine’s state House.
Theriault, a former race car driver from Fort Kent, told the Bangor Daily News in 2022 that he would not act to restrict abortion rights in the state, but in a questionnaire for the Christian Education League in the last election cycle, he said he supported restricting abortion. He also identifies as “pro-life” and welcomed the June 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a federal right to abortion.
Once in office, Theriault voted against enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, against another bill protecting abortion access in the event health facilities merge and against legislation expanding abortion rights in the state to include the period after fetal viability. Previously, pregnancies after the 20th to 24th week range, when a fetus becomes viable, were permitted only to “preserve the life or health of the mother.”
In addition to the three no votes, Theriault was absent for votes on successful bills to strengthen legal protections for Maine abortion providers who serve people from states where it is illegal, to require that health insurance plans cover abortions without cost-sharing and to explicitly forbid Maine municipalities to restrict abortion rights. He was not present for votes on a number of Republican-backed anti-abortion measures: restricting public funding for abortion, barring tele-health options for prescribing abortion pills, requiring additional counseling and a 48-hour waiting period before abortions, and requiring parental consent for minors seeking an abortion.
Theriault “is hand-picked and backed by House GOP leaders because he’ll rubber-stamp their harmful agenda — including putting government between women and their doctors with an extreme national abortion ban,” Golden said in a statement to HuffPost. “He praised the overturning of Roe v. Wade, voted against reproductive freedom in the Maine Legislature, and spent the entire Republican Primary telling voters he was the most extreme anti-choice candidate in the race. He’ll run from his record now, but it’s clear whose side he’s on.”
Theriault’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about Golden’s attack or other aspects of his record on abortion rights.
Golden, a co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Caucus who has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District since 2018, is one of five House Democrats in districts where former President Donald Trump won in 2020.
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Golden has held on in part by demonstrating his willingness to break with party leaders. He was the sole House Democrat to vote against the Build Back Better Act, a much more ambitious version of the Inflation Reduction Act, the social and climate policy bill that ultimately became law. And he is steadfastly refusing to comment on Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, let alone endorse her bid.
Golden, whose reelection is key to Democratic hopes of retaking the majority, shows no such distance from Democratic leadership’s position on abortion rights. Nearly two-thirds of Maine residents support abortion being legal in “all or most cases,” according to a Pew Research survey conducted from 2007 to 2014.
Though rates of support for abortion rights might be somewhat lower in Maine’s more conservative 2nd District, Golden’s campaign confirmed it has conducted polling on the topic. The campaign did not share the results of that polling data, but Golden plans to focus on abortion rights in paid communication ― the kind of decision that is virtually always the result of strong opinion testing.
Golden’s decision nonetheless speaks to just how much the contours of the abortion debate have shifted to the left, both inside the Democratic Party and among the broader public.
The last Democrat to represent the district, Mike Michaud, began his tenure in 2003 as an abortion rights opponent. By the time Michaud launched a failed bid for governor in 2014, he had become an abortion rights supporter, winning him the endorsement of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, the group now known as Reproductive Freedom for All.
In June, state Rep. Bruce White of Waterville lost his Democratic primary to Cassie Julia, who argued he was insufficiently supportive of abortion rights. White voted against all but one of the major pro-abortion rights bills in this past legislative session but also against all of the anti-abortion bills for which Theriault was absent.
As a result, White received a slightly higher score from Planned Parenthood Action Fund Maine than did Theriault, who got 0% on the organization’s legislative scorecard.