In 2018, Democratic Jared Golden benefited from Maine's new ranked-choice system to unseat GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin by the narrowest of margins in the final tally, 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent. As such, he started out the 2020 cycle as one of the NRCC's top targets. But new data shows Golden in an impressive position for reelection, despite the district having voted 51 percent to 41 percent for President Trump in 2016.
In 2018, Golden proved an ideal challenger for this blue-collar district: a 36-year-old Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, he once worked for GOP Sen. Susan Collins before being elected to the state legislature as a Democrat. This cycle he's raised more than $2.8 million, which he's used to dominate cheap Maine markets with catchy ads playing up his support for gun rights, lobster fishermen and union shipbuilding jobs at Bath Iron Works.
Meanwhile, former GOP state Rep. Dale Crafts, 61, won the June GOP primary with 45 percent in a three-way field. Crafts, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1983 motorcycle accident, was known
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