With early voting beginning as soon as Oct. 4 in many communities, Mainers are heading into what promises to be a nail-biter of a race for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Thursday night, incumbent Democrat and US Marine Veteran Jared Golden faced off with Republican challenger and former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault in a televised debate. 

Both candidates traded blows over issues that have emerged during the campaign, including Maine’s economy, the tragic mass shooting in Lewiston nearly one year ago and how both candidates view the national presidential contest to be decided next month.

Recent polling shows Golden is in a statistical dead heat with Theriault. A poll by Atlantic Research in mid-September showed Theriault leading Golden 47% to 44%, with a 3.5% margin of error. 

Golden is used to narrow wins, both when first running for the seat six years ago and in previous reelection bids. He defeated Republican challenger Bruce Poliquin in 2018 and 2022, and Republican Dale Crafts in 2020, all by less than 10 percentage points.

But Theriault has come on strong. Throughout 2024, his campaign has wasted no opportunity to lobby voters negatively against Golden, challenging him on issues ranging from support of President Joe Biden to his undeclared support of Vice President and Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

During the debate, Golden said he was not going to vote for former President Donald Trump, but still declined to declare his support for Harris.

“I think people are hungry for the local opinion to inform the national and not the other way around,” Golden said. 

Theriault, by contrast, declared he was voting for Trump, and said Golden should tell the public where he stands.

“It’s about who you’re supporting,” Theriault said. “It shows judgment. It shows the ability to stand up when you believe that something is the right thing.” 

Recently, both candidates brought the issue of gun ownership to the table, starting with Golden, whose campaign held an online press conference on Sept. 9 to announce the forming of Sportsmen for Golden, a grassroots coalition of more than 100 “hunters, anglers and trappers” who support the congressman.

The announcement came within days of the National Rifle Association, which gives Golden an “F” rating, coming out with an attack ad featuring a sneering announcer calling the congressman “Jared ‘Gun Control’ Golden.” Golden has taken criticism on gun rights ever since declaring following the mass shooting that killed 18 people in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, that he now favors a ban on assault-style weapons. 

Within hours of Golden’s Sept. 9 press conference, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine took to Facebook to distance itself from the grassroots group and Golden, saying, “We have not endorsed Jared Golden and don't plan on endorsing him.”

On Sept. 19, Theriault responded to Golden launched his own grassroots gun rights group of supporters, which he called “Sportsmen for Austin.” He then released a video ad featuring him speaking at a podium surrounded by supporters holding up signs reading, “Sportsmen for Theriault.” In it, he accused Golden of “flip-flopping,” a common criticism of the congressman, this time on Second Amendment rights. 

During Thursday night’s debate, Golden defended his decision to favor an assault weapons ban.

“It’s true I used to oppose the assault weapons ban and after 18 people were murdered (and) 13 wounded in Lewiston, I had a change of heart, plain and simple,” he said. 

Theriault countered by saying banning weapons won’t stop similar tragedies. He said the state needs to improve how it handles mental illness on the local level, saying “We failed you” regarding community-based mental health care.

“I’m going to make sure that we find the root cause of these issues and address them so that we don’t have to go through this again,” he said. 

When asked how their respective candidates felt going into the home stretch in such a close race, the Golden campaign did not respond to Spectrum News at all. Preya Samsundar, a spokesperson for Theriault’s campaign, issued a statement that criticized Golden again and said voting for Theriault “means supporting the son of a Fort Kent logging family who will buck his party to protect Social Security and Medicare and will put people over politics.”