A former NASCAR driver is betting he can take back Maine’s 2nd Congressional District for Republicans during next year’s race.
Austin Theriault, 29, formally filed paperwork Monday morning throwing his name into the ring for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden during the 2024 midterms, according to his campaign.
“Regular hardworking folks are getting held down by out-of-touch, out-of-state elites who are clueless about how hard it is to make a living in Maine,” Theriault said in a statement. “And some of our leaders are not very effective in fighting back — and I will be.”
His Monday announcement hit on inflation, immigration and the drug epidemic that claimed a record 716 lives in Maine last year. Theriault, a first-term Republican lawmaker representing District 1 in the Maine House, blasted Washington’s “failed leaders,” taking specific aim at President Joe Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, all Democrats.
“Golden is a nice guy, but he is still part of the problem,” Theriault said.
The For Kent native joins mortgage broker Robert Cross of Dedham and fellow first-term lawmaker Michael Soboleski of Phillips, who represents District 73 in the Maine House, in seeking the Republican nomination. Theriault boasts backing from national Republicans, having had calls in recent weeks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who chairs the National Republican Campaign Committee.
Kevin Ball, an unenrolled candidate, also has entered the 2nd District race.
Golden, 41, has a considerable head start on his challengers, reporting more than $826,000 in donations from January through June, ending the period with about $611,000 in cash on hand.
Golden, a Marine veteran of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has repeatedly taken heat from progressives in his party for voting with Republicans and against fellow Democrats on several issues, including on student debt relief, a defense budget with abortion limits, gun regulations and Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.
He is the most conservative House Democrat on economic issues in both this Congress and the last one while leaning slightly more liberal on social issues, according to VoteView. Golden has taken more progressive stances on issues like tribal rights and campaign finance reform, and Republicans point out that he most often votes with his party.
“Joe Biden has failed us and Jared Golden more times than not fails to stand up, speak out, and get the job done for a part of the state that desperately needs leadership,” Theriault said Monday.
The 2nd District has become a key battleground for national Republicans and Democrats over the past decade. The House seat has swung between both parties, but Golden has maintained a grip on it since eking out a ranked-choice win over former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, whom Golden bested a second time in their 2022 rematch. Republican Donald Trump also has won the 2nd District in the 2016 and 2020 presidential races.
Theriault beat Democrat Dana Marie Appleby during the 2022 election to fill the District 1 seat vacated by Democratic Rep. John Martin, a longstanding figure in Maine politics.
Theriault began his racing career as a teenager, and in 2019, he reached the highest level of American racing, the NASCAR Cup Series. That year he was injured in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, which put his racing career on hold. Since then, Theriault has focused on consulting and mentoring racers.
He returned to the racetrack for the first time since that 2019 crash in August, when he competed in the Oxford 250 at the Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.
