AUGUSTA — Election officials are steadily slogging their way through the votes cast in every town in Maine’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District to determine whether U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, will return to Capitol Hill for a fourth term.

The ranked choice tabulation began Tuesday, with a careful check to verify the ballots cast in each municipality, with representatives from both candidates’ campaigns watching closely.

Election results reported by the towns initially indicate that Golden likely won a narrow victory in the hotly contested race. He has said that he won. But Republican Austin Theriault of Fort Kent hopes the final outcome of the ranked choice voting, which may be available as soon as Thursday afternoon, might push him over the top.

In the first round of voting, Golden got 48.6% of the nearly 400,000 votes cast compared to 48.1% for Theriault. A total of 2,159 votes separated the two men.

Locked blue metal boxes containing ballots or memory devices are seen Tuesday in Augusta during ranked choice voting tabulation for the 2nd Congressional District race. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said they expect to have results by the end of the week. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Since neither got 50%, the Secretary of State’s Office is going to add in the second-place choices from about 12,000 ballots that didn’t indicate a first-place choice or wrote in Diana Merenda, the only declared write-in candidate. She got about 400 first-place votes.

It isn’t clear how many of the 12,000 ballots that will be redistributed have a second choice recorded.

If either candidate loses by a narrow margin — less than 1% — he is likely to request a recount, which the law provides for free in close contests. Theriault has already indicated an interest in doing so.

This marks the third time there has been a ranked choice runoff in the 2nd District. In 2018, Golden defeated Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin when he picked up enough second-choice votes to overcome Poliquin’s first-round lead. In 2022, Golden won easily after falling just shy of 50% in the first round.

The contest between Golden and Theriault cost more than $50 million, one of the most expensive in the nation, as partisans poured money into Maine to try to influence the outcome. Control of the U.S. House was expected to come down to a handful of races nationally — and that’s exactly what happened. The GOP maintained control, but its majority will remain razor thin.

If Theriault wins, he will be the only Republican member of the U.S. House from New England, which has been all-Democratic since Poliquin’s defeat. The only Republican U.S. senator from New England is Maine’s Susan Collins, who is up for reelection in 2026.