Democratic Rep. Jared Golden Endorses Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in Key Race

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) endorsed Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Sept. 21, crossing the aisle to support the Republican in one of the most closely watched House races of the midterm cycle.

In an op-ed published in The Journal News in White Plains, New York, Golden, who is not seeking reelection, pointed to his work with Lawler on legislation protecting Maine’s lobster industry. He also cited Lawler’s support for Democratic efforts on federal workers’ union rights and health insurance subsidies.

“Mike Lawler has been a true partner to me and a friend to fishing families he will never represent,” Golden wrote. “I strongly back him, and I hope voters send him back to work. Wherever you live, find the members who pass laws with the other party, and keep them. Maine’s lobstermen can tell you how much it matters.”

Lawler commented on the endorsement in a post on X.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to accept the endorsement of my friend, Democratic Congressman Jared Golden,” Lawler wrote. “While we are from different parties and different states, Jared and I have worked during our time together in the House to find common ground on issues that matter both to us and our constituents. We share a firm belief that what’s best for the people should come before one’s party, and that if more members on both sides of the aisle took that approach more often, the country would be better off for it.”

Lawler faces Cait Conley, a Democrat and an Army veteran who won her party’s June 23 primary, in New York’s 17th Congressional District. Lawler has represented the Hudson Valley district since 2023 and is one of three House Republicans whose districts then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in 2024.

The Epoch Times reached out to Conley’s campaign for comment on the endorsement but received no response.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) dismissed the endorsement in a statement provided to The Epoch Times by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“In desperation, [Lawler] is peddling an 11th hour endorsement from a retiring Congressmember who represents an out of town district more than 400 miles away. This smoke and mirrors ploy will do nothing to change the outcome of the race. The election will be decided by the people of Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley,” Jeffries said.

Jeffries said Lawler “has never shown bipartisan courage when it matters.”

“He voted to rip Medicaid away from the people he represents, continues to rubber-stamp the reckless war of choice in Iran and blindly supports the Trump tariffs that have raised costs on hardworking Americans by thousands of dollars per year,” he said.

DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz said in the same emailed statement, “Mike Lawler is going to lose because Hudson Valley voters want lower costs and are ready for a check on the out-of-control Trump Administration.”

Golden built much of his case around the Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act, which he introduced with Lawler this year. The bill would extend a pause on new federal right whale regulations affecting the lobster industry from 2028 to 2035. It passed the House 219–196 on Sept. 1 and now goes to the Senate.

“It is worth knowing who is leading that bill with me: Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York’s Hudson Valley. There is not a single lobster boat in his district. He got no votes in this and no headlines back home,” Golden wrote. “He signed on because a historic American industry, thousands of fishing families, and the principle that federal rules should be built on facts were all on the line.”

Golden said that Lawler also signed on to his bill restoring collective bargaining rights for federal employees after the Trump administration made changes. He also said Lawler signed a Democratic discharge petition to force a House vote on extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

“Lobster traps, union rights and health insurance do not have much in common, except that on all three, Lawler chose to solve the problem rather than campaign on it,” Golden wrote.

Golden, a Marine Corps veteran who has represented Maine’s Second Congressional District since 2019, announced in November 2025 that he would not seek a fifth term. He criticized candidates who cast fellow Americans as the country’s biggest threat, without naming any.

“We have real adversaries in this world, and they are not our fellow citizens,” Golden wrote. “When candidates for office tell voters that the gravest danger to this country is other Americans and the leaders they elect, that is radical talk, and it is the same politics of fear I have refused to practice for my entire career.”