Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Republican Congressman Who Just Lost His Seat Is Now Calling For a New Election Unless He's Declared the Winner, and Yeah That's Not How This Works

Republican Congressman Who Just Lost His Seat Is Now Calling For a New Election Unless He's Declared the Winner, and Yeah That's Not How This Works
House of Representative Bruce Poliquin of Maine speaks on capital hill on September 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Make Room USA)

Good luck with that.

Republican Representative Bruce Poliquin of Maine's 2nd congressional district lost in his reelection bid against Democratic challenger Jared Golden. Golden, a United States Marine veteran and state legislator, was declared the winner on November 15, nine days after the polls closed.

The election was historic as Maine became the first state in the country to adopt a ranked choice voting system for all federal level elections.


Incumbents Democratic Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine's 1st district and independent Senator Angus King easily won their first ranked choice votes. But Poliquin and Golden's contest which also included independents Tiffany Bond and William Hoar failed to produce a winner in the first round of voting tabulation.

On ranked choice ballots, voters choose a first, second, third, etc... choice.

Maine sample ranked choice ballot (Maine.gov)

Under Maine's ranked choice voting law—twice approved at the polls by Maine voters—a candidate cannot win without over 50% of the support from their constituents. In the first round, Poliquin received 46.2%, Golden received 45.5%, Bond 5.8% and Hoar 2.4%.

Under ranked choice, the second round eliminates the candidate that finished last—Hoar. Everyone who voted for that candidate has their votes transferred to their second choice. This continues until a candidate receives over 50% support.

After ranked choice tabulations, Golden received 50.5% of the votes while Poliquin received 49.5%. Golden was declared the winner of the election.

However once it became clear to Bruce Poliquin that he would not handily win reelection in the first round like his fellow incumbents, he attempted to stop the counting and have himself declared the winner.

Poliquin filed a request for an injunction to stop Republican Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap from tabulating the votes. Poliquin claimed the law, voted on twice by Maineiacs, was unconstitutional. Dunlap refused Poliquin's request unless ordered to do so by a judge.

When the President Donald Trump appointed United States District Judge, Lance Walker, denied that request, Golden was declared the winner. Poliquin then amended his request to ask for either a new election or to be declared the winner. He also called for a hand count of all ballots as he claimed Dunlap used "artificial intelligence" to tabulate the votes.

The Republican Party in Maine challenged the ranked choice voting law in the legislature and in court several times. Representative Poliquin was not a participant in any of those lawsuits by his party leading up to the election.

Poliquin never challenged ranked choice voting at all in any fashion. Until it looked like he might lose.

And that fact—that Poliquin waited until after they cast their ballots under ranked choice voting and after he might be personally affected to question the constitutionality of the law—angered his constituents.

Maine's 2nd congressional district covers most of the state's land mass. It includes the rural areas of the state where the fishing industry, logging and farming play major roles in the economies. It is also where Trump was able to garner one of Maine's four electoral votes.

Republicans do not hold a majority in the district, but their voters are often straight ticket GOP loyal while independent and Democratic voters often split their votes among various candidates and political parties. Maine has a history of electing candidates who fail to win a majority, such as in 2014 when Poliquin first won his seat with only 45.2% support.

Split votes traditionally help the GOP. But after a Tea Party Governor, Paul LePage, won twice in the state while failing to get even 40% support from voters, Maineiacs said "enough."

In the 2016 general election, a citizens referendum was put on the ballot. Maine voters put the measure on the ballot through petition drives then approved the law at the polls. After a GOP lead legislature and Governor LePage passed a law trying to eliminate ranked choice voting, Maineiacs put a citizen's veto on the 2018 primary ballots and once again confirmed their commitment to ranked choice voting for the state.

With such widespread voter support for ranked choice voting, Poliquin's challenge to the law only after votes were cast and he appeared to not have the majority he needed, is not sitting well.

Poliquin has come under fire before however for refusing to answer questions from constituents and the press, famously running away and once even ducking into a bathroom to avoid questions.

In response to Poliquin's suit brought by his Washington DC based attorney, Golden's Maine attorney, James Kilbreth, stated:

"Now, after 296,077 Maine citizens have voted based on their understanding that the [ranked-choice voting] system would be used to determine the winner of the election, Poliquin would like to change the rules."
"Poliquin’s sour grapes preliminary injunction is too little, too late, and is outweighed by the injury to the thousands of Maine voters who selected Golden over Poliquin and who would be disenfranchised by Poliquin’s attempt to use the courts to overturn the results of the election.”
“Further, the chaos, disruption, and violation of fundamental rights that would result from Poliquin’s attempt to rewrite the rules after the election is anathema to the public interest. Golden won the election fair and square."

A hearing on the motion will be held Dec. 5 and a decision is expected by Dec. 14, the deadline to certify the results.

More from News

black Lamborghini parked in front of a boutique
Danilo Capece on Unsplash

Surprising Things Poor People Learned When Dating Someone Rich

There are life lessons learned through adversity. Some of them are actual survival skills while others are about managing expectations and disappointment.

But some people face very few hardships in their lives due to the power of money.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump at FIFA World Cup trophy presentation
YouTube.com/FoxNews

Trump Ripped After Refusing To Leave Stage For FIFA World Cup Trophy Presentation

President Donald Trump was widely mocked after positioning himself front and center during Chelsea’s trophy lift at the FIFA Club World Cup final on Sunday.

The event, held at a sold-out MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, saw him greeted by loud boos from the crowd—boos that only intensified as he refused to leave the stage, instead lingering and openly basking in the attention.

Keep ReadingShow less
Labubu Dolls
Lars Penning/picture alliance/Getty Images

People Are Convinced Viral Labubu Dolls Are Based On Ancient Demons—And Snopes Just Weighed In

Social media trends, especially on TikTok, have become incredibly intense, as people feel a deep need to be a part of the movement, participate in the conversation, and have the products everyone else is showing in their videos.

A popular trend right now is the collection of Labubu dolls.

Keep ReadingShow less
Julia Garner
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited

Julia Garner Had The Classiest Reaction To Fan Backlash Over Female Silver Surfer In New 'Fantastic Four' Film

An enthusiastic, engaged fan base can be a wonderful thing to experience—if the fans don't turn toxic.

Unfortunately, far too many members of sci-fi, fantasy and superhero/comic book fandoms are openly hostile to anyone who doesn't resemble the cast from the "good old days" of those genres—when their fictional universes were primarily populated by White, cisgender, heteronormative, men and the "dames" they hit on.

Keep ReadingShow less
Meghan Reinertsen
@meghanreinertsen/TikTok

TikToker's Food Poisoning Chaos

After enough time had passed, TikToker Meghan Reinertsen felt comfortable sharing a food poisoning incident on a United Airlines flight while.

She also offered a long-overdue apology to those affected by the canceled flight thanks to a “disturbance deep, deep within my bowels.”

Keep ReadingShow less