In one of his final acts in office, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has begrudgingly certified the results of the 2nd Congressional District race won by Democrat Jared Golden.
The governor tweeted Friday that he signed off on the election, which Golden won after prevailing in the nation's first congressional race decided by ranked-choice voting.
I’ve signed off on the CD2 election result as it’s no longer in federal court. Ranked Choice Voting didn’t result in a true majority as promised-simply a plurality measured differently. It didn’t keep big money out of politics & didn’t result in a more civil election #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/0fEhD1dvAb
— Paul R. LePage (@Governor_LePage) December 28, 2018
LePage has long been a critic of ranked-choice and his tweet included a photo of the election certificate with the words "stolen election" scrawled next to his signature.
The same certificate will be sent to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republican Congressman Bruce Poliquin also formally ended his legal battle over ranked-choice voting and the election he lost to Golden.
Golden responded on Twitter, saying that the Governor's remarks are wrong and that they are "yet another attempt by the Maine GOP to undermine the will of Mainers."
Not only are the Governor’s comments wrong, this is yet another attempt by the Maine GOP to undermine the will of Mainers, who twice voted to approve RCV. Maine people are tired of this kind of poor leadership — which is why they voted for sweeping change in November. #mepolitics https://t.co/aMDBj1Onnc
— Jared Golden for Congress (@golden4congress) December 28, 2018
Golden will be sworn in with the new Congress Jan. 3. LePage's last day in office is Jan. 2.
Updated 3:15 p.m. Dec. 28, 2018
