Why won’t Jared Golden say if he’ll vote for Joe Biden?

By Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent

Elections are about choices. For some people, this election is about the struggling economy. For others, it’s anger over the unsecured border. For too many, it’s the drug crisis destroying our communities.

What Mainers don’t want is politicians who speak out of both sides of their mouth. I believe Jared Golden’s position on Joe Biden is exactly that. When Golden wrote hundreds of words recently in the Bangor Daily News and Piscataquis Observer about Donald Trump’s likely election victory following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance -— without acknowledging his choice for the White House or the president’s declining health — I believe he insulted the intelligence of Maine’s voters. 

Golden wrote: “Donald Trump is going to win.”

In the same breath, Golden wrote that he doesn’t plan to vote for Trump.

But he won’t say if he’s supporting President Biden.

Trying to have it both ways on something so important like who is the leader of the free world isn’t leadership.

I see this as part of a pattern with Golden. He’s taken both sides on the 2nd Amendment. He says he’s concerned about the border, but voted against a bill funding securing the border. He says he opposes Joe Biden more than any other Democrat, but touts his support of Joe Biden’s mini-“Green New Deal” — a trillion-dollar spending bill filled with subsidies for electric vehicles and funds for NOAA’s efforts against Maine’s lobstermen — that Joe Biden hilariously calls the “Inflation Reduction Act.”

So who is Golden voting for for president?

It’s a simple question. Given the choice, I expect Jared Golden would vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. He hasn’t denied that simple fact. Even after Biden sadly revealed during his debate with Trump that he appears mentally incapable of leading the country. And let’s be clear, someone who appears to be in decline in the way that Biden is should not be responsible for the national security of millions of my fellow Americans.

After all that, Golden may still vote for Biden. That is, after all, essentially who is left after you say you’re not voting for Trump.

Don’t believe me? Well, try asking Jared Golden the next time you see him. WGME’s Gregg Lagerquist tried during a recent interview.

He said, “I don’t know that that is who is going to be on the ticket.” Golden later said, “I don’t know yet.” 

When Lagerquist asked if Joe Biden should step aside, Golden said “I’m not going to vote for Donald Trump.” 

Yeah, we got that part.

The question of who a candidate supports for president is a simple one. Again, elections are about choices. They’re not always perfect choices. But they’re still binary.

In my case, I’m voting for Donald Trump because I think his economic policies and agenda of securing the southern border is what’s best for Maine’s Second Congressional District. Like many folks, I don’t like his tweets. What I do like is how Trump has promised to protect Medicare and Social Security. And I like how he promised to get tougher on China, negotiate better trade deals for American workers, and put an end to the ever-persistent inflation. So he’s got my vote.

Jared Golden supports much of Biden’s policy agenda. Even if he refuses to say how he’s voting for president this entire campaign.

Elections are about choices. But they’re also about leadership. By declining to state the obvious about Biden and his support for the president, and evading questions about his support for Biden, Golden made the choice easy for Mainers looking for a new direction. To me, he sounded like every other politician in Washington, and less like people here in Maine who are going to vote this fall.

Theriault is a former NASCAR driver, small-business owner and Republican candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. He lives in Fort Kent and represents House District 1 in the Maine House of Representatives.