Republicans seek to unseat Democrats in Maine district shaken by Lewiston shooting

LEWISTON, Maine — Two Republican lawmakers, one of whom was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, are seeking a chance to unseat one of the most conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives in a district in Maine rocked by mass shooting last year.

The two members of the Maine House of Representatives face off Tuesday in a Republican primary. They are Austin Thériault, of Fort Kent, supported by Trump, and Mike Soboleski, of Phillips, also a supporter of the former president.

The winner will face three-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Jared Golden in Maine's 2nd Congressional District, which gave Trump one electoral vote in the last two elections. The district was also the scene of a mass shooting that left 18 people dead in Lewiston in October.

Both Theriault and Soboleski vowed to be greater protectors of the Second Amendment than Golden in the months after the shooting, motivating Maine Democrats to approve a battery of new gun control laws . Golden, who has also long presented himself as a gun rights advocate, spoke in favor of a ban on assault weapons after the Lewiston shooting but said he would not voted for changes such as expanding background checks and creating penalties for illegal gun sales. .

Economic development, inflation and immigration also factored into the primary campaign, but gun control is clearly a major factor on voters' minds, said Mark Brewer, a political scientist at the University of Maine.

The election also has the opportunity to shake up the power structure in Congress. Republicans have a slim five-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Maine election is one of the few that could shift that balance, Brewer said.

“This is certainly shaping up to be one of the top 10 House races in the country, if not the top five,” Brewer said. “This is an incredibly evenly divided district, and there are fewer and fewer of them.”

The 2nd Congressional District is much more rural and geographically much larger than Maine's other district, which is more heavily Democratic and is based around Portland. The 2nd District is home to many traditional Maine industries, such as papermaking and lobster fishing.

Thériault is a former NASCAR driver who had a major fundraising advantage over Soboleski at the race. Soboleski, however, gained support from some other Republican state lawmakers.

Both presented themselves as being more in tune with the workers in the neighborhood. Thériault said that on the issue of guns “and many others, Jared Golden does not represent the people of the district.” Soboleski said Golden “is focused on moving up the political ladder.”

Golden, a Marine veteran of two wars, called his approach to gun control and other issues pragmatic and fair to Maine.

“In Maine, as elsewhere, the government, courts and people must seek a balance between individual rights and the common good,” he said.