Maine election update: Key US House district goes to ranked voting, King re-elected

Votes will have to be redistributed under Maine's ranked choice system to determine the winner of a key congressional race, election officials said.

The campaigns of both Republican challenger Austin Theriault and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden said Friday that they would participate in the process, although Golden said he already won the election, without a need for additional tabulations.

Elsewhere in Maine, Sen. Angus King's reelection bid will not go to the ranked choice system — NBC News projected Friday that the independent who caucuses with Democrats will win his bid for a third term in the U.S. Senate.

The matchup between Golden and Theriault in Maine's 2nd Congressional District was one of a handful of pivotal races still without a declared winner, with control of the U.S. House of Representatives at stake.

The two candidates were both just below 49%, with Golden holding a slight edge of about 2,000 votes, according to figures released Thursday night by the Maine Department of the Secretary of State. At this point, Maine's winner won't be announced until next week.

Under ranked voting, if no candidate achieves a majority on the first round, the lesser choices of the last-place finisher's supporters are reallocated to establish a majority. Golden and Theriault were the only candidates on the ballot, but Diana Merenda of Surry, who ran an organized write-in candidacy, received several hundred votes. The second choices of any voters who left their first choice blank also will be counted.

Hundreds of votes for people other than Merenda, the declared write-in, will be treated as blanks. Any blank ballots with no second choice also will be removed from the total, bringing Golden and Theriault closer to a head-to-head count.

NBC News has not declared a winner in the race. Now that won't happen until next week, after the ballots from all of the district's many cities and towns are transported to the state capital and re-scanned into a computer in a centralized location.

The initial count was so close that Theriault already took the step of requesting a recount, but Theriault's campaign signaled Friday that it was supportive of the ranked count.

"There is a process in place and we look forward to the process unfolding according to the law," Theriault campaign manager Shawn Roderick said.

Golden, who had declared victory on Wednesday after some news organizations reported that he had won, said the ranked choice process isn't necessary. His campaign said Friday that it will "participate in any Secretary of State process to determine election results." However, the campaign also said it objects to the inclusion of blank ballots in determining whether the ranked run-off is necessary.

"As we have outlined in letters to the Secretary, a straightforward reading of the current rules makes clear that Congressman Jared Golden won the majority of first-choice votes for a candidate, and is thus the winner," the Golden campaign said.

Maine has no mandatory recounts, even in close elections. But the state does allow candidates to request a recount. The state does not require a deposit for a recount if the margin of victory is 1% or less in congressional races.

The thin margin came in an election in which Republican Donald Trump won the 2nd District, allowing him to collect one of Maine's four electoral votes. Maine is one of two states that split electoral votes.

During the campaign, Golden touted his ability to work with members of either political party along with his advocacy on behalf of the lobster industry, which is the lifeblood of the region's economy.

Theriault, who was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2022, spent much of the campaign portraying Golden as too liberal for the district. Although Theriault had the backing of Trump, he also attempted to portray himself as a potential uniter during a divided time in Washington.

NBC10 Boston's Asher Klein contributed to this report.