Austin Theriault was just 25 years old when a dream came true on a sweltering July day in 2019.
Theriault had started racing at Spud Speedway, in the heart of Aroostook County’s potato country, about 12 years earlier, long before he could even drive to the racetrack. But on that July day five years ago, Theriault was behind the wheel of a professional stock car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, awaiting his first start as a NASCAR driver.
“I sat in the stands when I was a kid,” Theriault said recently. “And being there on pit road with my family and the opportunity. Even though it was kind of a 35th-place car, at the end of the day you’re in a pretty high-level sport. And that was just the beginning. “We were planning years beyond that.”
Theriault’s hopes for that NASCAR season ended weeks later when he was injured in a pileup at Florida’s famed Talladega Speedway. Now, nearly five years later, Theriault is vying for a very different prize: a seat in Congress.
The 30-year-old Fort Kent native is one of two Republican state legislators, along with Rep. Mike Soboleski of Phillips, who hope to win the GOP nomination next week to challenge Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in the 2nd Congressional District. of Maine.
Theriault has amassed more than $1 million in campaign donations, thanks in large part to endorsements from leaders of the National Republican Congressional Committee and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. He also earned the endorsement of former President Trump. Soboleski, 67, on the other hand, said his decades of business experience and service in the Marine Corps will help him win votes from independents and even Republican veterans who have supported Golden.
For Theriault, the door to enter politics opened around the same time he decided in 2021 to leave the driver’s seat after several injuries and focus on the business side of racing. Republicans approached him to try to succeed Democratic Rep. John Martin of Eagle Lake, an institution in Maine politics who was ousted from his House seat.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m going through a transition right now, too. It might be an interesting time to start considering what’s next,'” Theriault said over a plate of food at Helen’s Restaurant, a must-see stop in Machias for Any campaign moves through Washington County. “And when John Martin finished, I jumped into the race and didn’t know what to expect. I always followed what was happening in Maine.”
Theriault won the Maine House seat in November 2022 and, less than a year later, after additional encouragement from some Republican leaders, announced plans to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat this year.
“There’s a lot of politics in racing,” he said, laughing. “There is a lot of politics in any sport and also in business. “You can’t escape it.”
Speaking later that day to a packed room at the Washington County Republican Committee in Pembroke, Theriault focused his comments primarily on the incumbent, not his primary opponent, Soboleski.
“I hope people show up and get out in June so that we can take on Jared Golden and be able to hold him accountable for his failures, his lack of leadership, and his failure to be an aggressive voice in the Second District, because that’s what the district really wants.” needs,” Theriault said.
Kevin Miller
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Maine Public
Austin Theriault, a former NASCAR driver running for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, speaks with members of the Washington County Republican Committee in May 2024, ahead of the Republican primary.
But first, Theriault will have to defeat Soboleski, a businessman and former actor, during the June 11 Republican primary.
Both Theriault and Soboleski are freshman lawmakers in the Maine House. And their campaigns primarily focus on the economy, border issues, the Second Amendment and their support for Trump.
In the Legislature, Theriault has served on the Transportation Committee but, like many freshman lawmakers, had a relatively low-profile first term. Soboleski sits on the Labor and Housing Committee, as well as the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
The two have clashed in debates over drug policy and who is the stronger conservative. But one obvious difference is the age difference of more than 30 years between the candidates.
For 73-year-old Arthur Langley of Harrington, Theriault’s youth is an advantage.
“I like Mike Soboleski and I like Austin,” Langley said at the Republican committee meeting. “There are too many people in the Republican Party who look like me: old and white, and mostly old.”
Earlier in the day, Langley and his wife, Linda, had shown up at Helen’s restaurant to meet Theriault wearing matching bright red sweatshirts with the slogan “Make America Great Again.” Now, in a room full of Republicans, many of them dressed similarly, Langley said he is ready to give younger people a chance to solve the nation’s problems, particularly the massive national debt that he said is looming over them. leaving his generation and others.
“Everyone has ability,” Langley said. “The experience is a wonderful thing. But at 30 you have a lot of experience if you have done something in life. It’s your criteria, it’s your character.”
Theriault often touts his family’s Aroostook County roots in logging and farming. He also highlights his own business experience running a racing team and, more recently, in driver development. And, of course, his campaign has highlighted his NASCAR roots and his racing victories, which included a national championship in the 2017 ARCA Racing Series.
He also touts his endorsement by Trump in speeches, campaign brochures and advertisements.
“I’m proud to have President Trump’s endorsement,” he said in a television ad. “Together we will secure the border, stop Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, and bring back American manufacturing. I will fight to make sure our best days are ahead.”
It’s an open question how it will affect Trump’s support during the general election. Trump won the majority of votes in Maine’s 2nd District in both 2016 and 2020. But Golden still outperformed Trump in 2020 as he moved into his second term.
But the endorsement is likely to help Theriault during the Republican primary in a rural district where Trump remains popular among many Republican voters.
“I think Trump is the only person who has ever taken care of us in my life, and I’m 52 years old,” said Rod Tirrell, a Calais resident who was having lunch with his wife, Amanda, and another couple when Theriault stopped by. The two women posed for photos with the former NASCAR driver and, when asked about his politics, one of them proudly proclaimed “God, guns and Trump.”
So for Tirrell, Trump’s endorsement probably matters.
“Stick to the Constitution, that’s all I want,” Tirrell said. “I hope that’s what Austin is for. I don’t know him that well. But if Trump has endorsed him, I guess that’s what it is.”
A little later, outside Calais City Hall, Theriault said he has supported Trump since 2016, but acknowledged the former president’s polarizing nature even among some Republicans. But he also pointed to polls showing that more Americans trust Trump than Biden on the economy and border security.
“Those are the two issues that people are talking a lot about right now: the economy, inflation and the border and the drug crisis or the fentanyl crisis. I think those are the messages that I am going to convey during the electoral campaign.”
But Theriault’s main rival, Soboleski, is addressing those same issues ahead of June 11, as Republican voters prepare to decide which candidate should face Golden this fall.
A profile of the second candidate in the Republican primary, Mike Soboleski, will air on Maine Public and be posted to the website on Wednesday, June 5.
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