Writer's Note: I have submitted this as a letter to the Portland Press Herald. As it is critical of their coverage and exceeds their desired length limitations, it may not be published or may be edited to remove what I feel are essential arguments. I have asked for this website to be included if a limited version does make it to the paper so readers of the herald are able to view the full piece.

On July 2nd, Congressman Jared Golden penned an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News titled, "Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine." This might surprise readers of the Portland Press Herald and other news outlets who continue to reference the article with the more boiled-down and clickbaity "Jared Golden says Donald Trump will win 'and I'm OK with that'". In fact, the Herald alone has referenced the op-ed six times in the 24 days since it was published. I credit these outlets for linking to the op-ed; however, it is behind a paywall, so I am not certain how many readers were able to actually see what Golden wrote.

For those readers, let me try to provide more context. Jared Golden, in the op-ed, correctly predicted Joe Biden would not win the election and was not fit to run for president. He did this weeks before his colleagues in the Democratic Party had the courage to. They held off until after Biden's disastrous debate when what Golden had referenced in his op-ed was apparent to the public.

Golden also makes a point in his op-ed to condemn the fear-mongering used to campaign for Joe Biden, arguing that democracy has a system of checks and balances that should always be able to preserve it. Golden said it will be up to Congress to block harmful policies while protecting programs like Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. Those points, while relevant, certainly do not get the attention that "Jared Golden says Donald Trump will win 'and I'm OK with that'" gets.

This has bothered me as a reader who has always admired the 2nd district representative for having the courage of his convictions and not blindly voting or following the party line. The articles must have done well with the mischaracterization because this morning (7/24), Randy Billings did it again when he titled an article, "Rep. Jared Golden 'absolutely not' committed to supporting Kamala Harris."

Great headline, lots of clicks I'm sure. However, it is once again a mischaracterization of Jared Golden, who has not yet committed support to Vice President Harris, instead wanting to hear more about her vision for the country, saying, "I expect to have to work to earn Mainers' votes, and our candidates for president should expect the same." Jared Golden did write in his frequently referenced op-ed that he would not vote for Trump. For whatever reason, this is not mentioned in today's article and rarely in any of the articles that reference the op-ed.

The article goes on to point out that Jared Golden is running for reelection and cites his record of being willing to work with Republicans and Democrats alike. What is concerning about the 'news' article is when the writer decided to editorialize Golden's latest ad by writing, "His first TV ad of the cycle seems like it could have been written by a Republican."

I am not sure what value this provides to the piece overall. To support the writer's assessment, he references that in the campaign ad, Golden declared Biden to be "unfit to serve a second term," something his Democratic colleagues agree with and the sitting president confirmed by stepping down on the 21st. The article also does not mention that the ad highlights what Golden calls "attacks on women's reproductive rights" and his declaration to work with both parties in the best interest of Maine voters.

As a reader of The Portland Press Herald, I am disappointed in the continued mischaracterization of Jared Golden that lacks context and features an abundance of editorialization. That being said, I will not be voting for Jared Golden in November as I am not a voter in the 2nd district. I do, however, support political candidates who are more concerned with their constituents rather than their party line, the same way I support news outlets that are more concerned with fair, unbiased reporting rather than their page views.