For the third time in four elections, Maine's 2nd Congressional District race will be decided by a ranked-choice runoff.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced the ranked-choice tabulation Thursday night after initial election results received by her office indicated that neither Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden nor Republican Austin Theriault had received more than 50% of the vote.
Bellows announced the runoff hours after Theriault's campaign had formally requested a recount in the race because the two candidates were separated by a fraction of a percent.
"Both ranked-choice voting tabulations and recounts are public proceedings open to the public," Bellows' office said in a press release. "The ranked choice voting tabulation will begin next week. The tabulation will take place in Augusta."
Maine's 2nd District has been on the national radar for months because the swing district was rated as one of the few "toss-ups" out of 435 House races across the country. National groups have dumped tens of millions of dollars into the race as Democrats and Republicans battled for control of the House. And it was among roughly two dozen House races that had yet to be called by The Associated Press as of Thursday night.
The race used ranked-choice voting because there were three contenders: Golden, a 42-year-old moderate Democrat and Marine Corps veteran seeking a fourth term; Theriault, a 30-year-old former NASCAR driver who now serves in the Maine Legislature; and declared write-in candidate Diana Merenda from Surry.
Golden has a roughly 2,000-vote advantage over Theriault in vote totals released by Bellows' office Thursday evening. While The Associated Press had not yet called the race, the Bangor Daily News and its elections partner, Decision Desk HQ, had declared Golden the winner Wednesday afternoon. That prompted the incumbent to quickly declare victory.
But in a bizarre twist, it appears that the ranked-choice runoff is the result of more than 12,600 voters opting not to pick any of the three candidates.
According to the official tallies, a total of 403,274 ballots were cast in the 2nd District race. Golden received the vote on 48.65% of those ballots while Theriault was chosen on 48.11% of the ballots.
Voters selected Merenda as their first-choice candidate on 0.10% of the ballots. But more than 3% of voters didn't pick any of three candidates as their first choice. And Bellows' office said the law requires a candidate to win more than 50% of all ballots cast.
In a statement, Golden's campaign appeared to disagree with that interpretation, however.
"The rules are clear: A ranked-choice run-off is required only if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes," Golden's campaign said. "When the clerks reported returns on Tuesday, Congressman Golden was the candidate who received more than 50 percent of first-choice votes. Voters have a right to see elections decided both accurately and expediently. State Rep. Theriault has asserted his right to a recount by hand and Congressman Golden agrees to it. So let's just do it, rather than incur the delays and expenses of a ranked-choice run-off."
Theriault's campaign manager Shawn Roderick said: “There is a process in place and we look forward to the process unfolding according to the law.“
Golden won his first term in Congress in 2018 by defeating incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin in the nation's first congressional race decided by a ranked-choice runoff. The same scenario played out in 2022 when Poliquin challenged Golden only to lose in another ranked-choice tabulation.
Under Maine's system, voters are allowed — but not required — to rank candidates in their order of preference on the ballot whenever there are three or more candidates in a federal race or in a primary for a state office. A ranked-choice tabulation is triggered when no one wins 50% plus one vote on the first tally.
The process works by eliminating candidates from the bottom up and allocating votes to the remaining candidates based on the second-choice preferences of that person's supporters. This continues until a candidate eventually exceeds 50%.
In this case, the ranked-choice tabulation will redistribute any second-choice votes of people who had initially supported Merenda. But the process will also look to see if any voters left the first-choice spot blank but listed a second-choice candidate.
Any ballots without a first- and second-choice vote will be eliminated, thereby shrinking the ballot pool. The winner will be whoever has the most votes in the remaining ballot pool.
Earlier Thursday, before the announcement that a ranked-choice runoff would be needed, Theriault's campaign formally asked for a recount. The Secretary of State's Office said any recount would occur after the ranked-choice tabulation.
"Given that this is the closest race in modern Maine history, we must ensure a full, accurate count," Theriault campaign manager Shawn Roderick said in a statement. "Despite being significantly outspent, this race is still extremely close. We must work together to ensure the Mainers' voices are heard and the final result reflects the will of the people."
Golden is known as a moderate or "Blue Dog Democrat" in a caucus dominated by more liberal members in D.C. As a result, he has been able to win three elections in a district that leans increasingly Republican, as evidenced by 2nd District voters supporting Donald Trump over the Democratic nominee in 2016, 2020 and again on Tuesday.
Theriault, 30, is a former NASCAR driver who is wrapping up his first term representing the Fort Kent area in the Maine House. Theriault's campaign portrayed Golden as too liberal for the district and the candidate pledged to put the district ahead of partisan politics in D.C.
It is still unclear which party will control the House next year. The AP has yet to declare a winner in more than 20 races nationwide, although Republicans had captured 210 seats versus 198 for Democrats as of Thursday evening. A majority requires 218 seats.
Law enforcement officers will soon begin the process of collecting secured ballot boxes and ballot materials from the hundreds of municipalities in the 2nd District, which encompasses most of Maine. They will be transported to a central, secure location in Augusta.
The process of scanning all ballots into a high-speed tabulator or uploading the digital images of ballots from memory cards takes several days. The actual ranked-choice tabulation only takes moments, however, using special computer software. The entire process is conducted in public view with full involvement of each campaign.
