Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) fended off a competitive challenger on election night, defeating Republican Austin Theriault in a district former President Donald Trump has won three times in a row. The Associated Press called the race for Golden on Friday,

Representative Jared Golden, a three-term Democrat, defeated Austin Theriault, a former NASCAR driver, in one of a handful of districts held by Democrats that Donald J. Trump won in 2020.

Maine is one of a handful of states that use Ranked Choice Voting, where voters rank in order of preference who they would like to see win. In this case, when the bottom candidates were eliminated, their votes were reallocated to their second and third choices until a remaining candidate received over 50 percent.

The campaign for Republican Austin Theriault immediately requested a hand recount, meaning the winner likely won't be officially declared until December.

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden locked in a tight race for re-election against Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault in Trump-won district.

Republican Austin Theriault failed to unseat Golden, despite the Democrat's support for an assault weapons ban.

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden won reelection to Congress through Maine’s ranked choice system on Friday. It’s the third time in four elections in the hotly contested district that Golden won after votes were retabulated because first choices failed to produce a majority for any candidate.