Jared Golden among a trio of Democrats most likely to side with Trump

Three months into his new job representing Maine's 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Jared Golden of Lewiston has shown a willingness to break ranks from his party.

Only two Democrats in the U.S. House have voted with President Donald Trump more than Golden, according to statistics compiled by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and data-driven news outfit.

"It's just so uncommon for people to break ranks" on either side of the political aisle, Golden said Friday as he visited a number of establishments in Auburn.

Between posing for pictures and shaking hands, Golden talked about a variety of issues during several hours of discussions with residents and a reporter, from health care to the Green New Deal.

The common thread among many was his embrace of bills and ideas that have a shot at getting approved into law. He repeatedly showed an aversion to squandering his time on idealistic measures that aren't going to happen anytime soon.

So it might shock people that the Democrat most likely to side with Trump is a lawmaker widely touted as the champion of the party's left wing, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

She's voted with the president 14.3 percent of the time — more often than one of her GOP colleagues, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Golden has lined up with Trump 9.5 percent of the time.

The only other Democrat to side with Trump more than 5 percent of the time is U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota.

Golden said he often doesn't agree with Ocasio-Cortez on issues, but he sees a connection in the way they each look at politics.

"We're both kind of anti-establishment," he said, so it's not surprising that they're more apt to diverge from what House leaders prefer.

In addition, Golden said, "both of us have a real hostility to the culture of campaign finance" that is pushed so hard by party officials who want them to spend a lot of time raising money. Golden said he won't go along with it.

The reality of Congress, he said, is that it is so partisan that it's uncommon for anyone to break ranks from other party members.

"It's unusual to be bold," Golden said.

Maine's senior senator, Susan Collins, is the Republican most likely to vote against Trump's position, according to FiveThirtyEight's ranking. She supports him 30 percent of the time, less than one Democrat, West Virginia's Joe Manchin.

Maine's other senator, independent Angus King, and its 1st District congressional representative, Democrat Chellie Pingree, never back the president's positions.

A couple of controversial issues — the proposed southern border wall and Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal — highlight Golden's approach to the job.

On border security, he said, "I get attacked from both sides" because he's not all-in on funding a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States and he's not against it, either.

"I don't like people on the left saying it's immoral" to have a wall, the legislator said, because it makes sense to have one along some stretches to keep people from entering the country improperly.

At the same time, he said, there's no reason to build it along the entire border when there are hundreds of miles where there's no need.

Golden said there's also no reason to cough up the money to fund the entire wall that is needed in one big allocation. It would be better, he said, to pay for it "a little bit at a time."

He said he doesn't support the Green New Deal even though he is committed to doing what he can for the environment.

Golden said, for example, that the United States "should get back into the Paris Accord and be a global leader" in addressing climate change.

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