Preliminary work begins today in the ranked-choice vote count to determine the winner of the 2nd Congressional District race.

On election night, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, the incumbent Democrat, received 48% of the vote, former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, got 45% and independent Tiffany Bond received 7%.

Since no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, the race will go through the ranked-choice process. That means that Bond will be eliminated from the contest and her second-place votes will be distributed to Golden and Poliquin.

On Thursday, Golden declared victory, calling the results “undeniably clear.”

“The few precincts that remain cannot meaningfully alter the position of this race,” he said. “In an instant runoff against Bruce Poliquin, we are confident that our lead will hold or even extend by a comfortable margin.”

Over the weekend, Poliquin posted a lengthy message to his Facebook page thanking campaign volunteers and calling on Democrats to “fix the mess they created.”

Although he did not concede, he urged Democrats to go back to Washington in the coming weeks to work before the new Congress is sworn-in on Jan. 3. He said they should “end wasteful spending to lower inflation,” secure the southern border, reverse college loan forgiveness and cancel the plan to hire additional IRS employees.

The Golden/Poliquin/Bond rematch from 2018 was expected to be another close race with Republicans looking to take back the seat as part of an anticipated midterm election red wave.

With some races yet to be called, the Republicans are still expected to take over the majority — though by a slimmer margin than anticipated — and are on track to win 221 seats, according to the New York Times.

The Maine Office of the Secretary of State will begin pre-tabulation work in the ranked-choice race Monday afternoon, with the ballot counting set for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Augusta. The count is open to the public and will be conducted at 45 Commerce Drive, the headquarters of the Maine State Police.

The office is hoping to finish the count on Tuesday, according to spokeswoman Emily Cook.