PHILLIPS, Maine — As most of his fellow Democrats prepared to gather in Chicago, Rep. Jared Golden was looking for empty hands to shake or ply with cold beer along a small-town parade route. “You got my vote!” yelled a man wearing a “F--- Biden” baseball cap last Friday after Golden handed him a Bud Light wrapped in a campaign-branded koozie. An aide towed a rusty children’s wagon filled with ice and beer and flavored seltzers. Golden, a 42-year-old tattooed former Marine who says he carries a concealed handgun “pretty much always,” announced last week that he will not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris or even say how he plans to vote in November, as the Democrat seeks a fourth term in a district he confidently predicts Harris will lose. Golden has always kept his distance from his party — both in Congress, where he votes more often with Republicans than any other Democrat, and back home, where he rarely appears with other Democratic officials outside of official events. His TV ads tout how he fought President Joe Biden’s administration and worked with then-President Donald Trump’s. He has not attended a House Democratic caucus meeting since 2021. And he’s called on his party to knock off the apocalyptic “pearl-clutching” about Trump’s alleged threat to democracy. He condemns the “toxic” influence of “lifestyle leftism” that he says has led his party to drift away from its working-class roots. Golden will need more than a few Trump voters to split their ticket — an increasingly difficult task in this polarized age when all politics feels national — to again win one of the whitest and most rural congressional districts in the country, and the only one in New England that supported Trump in 2020. While not every Democrat needs to court Trump voters as assiduously as Golden, he and his allies worry about the party losing touch with corners of the country by writing off efforts like his. And with Democrats only four seats away from the House majority, every district counts. Back at the parade, Linda Ross, wearing a Trump hat and spotless white “Trump 2024” sneakers, called Golden over from the tailgate of a red pickup where she watched the progression of homemade floats, tractors and vintage cars. “You’re bipartisan and you do a good job!” Ross said. Read more from Alex → | 