Democrat Golden backs GOP's Lawler in tough New York race

You have to hand it to Jared Golden. The Maine Democrat just walked into one of the most expensive, most watched House races in the country and told his own party to sit down. His endorsement of Mike Lawler is not some polite nod across the aisle. It is a public, pointed rebuke to the Democratic machine that has spent the last two years pretending New York’s Hudson Valley is a safe bet for partisan loyalty.

Golden does not need anything from Lawler. He has his own seat in Maine, and he has won it the hard way. He is a Democrat who knows what it is like to represent working-class people who do not care about your party label if you ignore their problems. That is exactly why his endorsement carries weight. Lawler has done the job the way Golden thinks it should be done, by actually listening to his district instead of taking orders from Washington. That is a rare commodity in Congress. Golden just said so out loud.

Democrats are furious, and you can see why. They view Lawler’s seat as one of the keys to taking back the House, and now a sitting Democrat has handed Republicans a reason for independents and moderate Democrats to feel okay about voting for a Republican. Golden’s endorsement is a campaign ad Lawler could not buy. It says the attacks on Lawler are lies, or at least they are not enough to outweigh a record that even a Democrat respects.

What does this tell us? The national party has a real problem when its own members are willing to cross the line to support an opponent. Golden is not a moderate in name only. He votes his district. And his district is a lot like Lawler’s: working people, high prices, and no patience for ideological purity tests. The party of the working class has become the party of the professional class, and Golden knows it. That is why he made the call. Lawler should send him a thank you note, and then get back to knocking on doors. This race just got a little easier.