Retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine this week endorsed Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, drawing the ire of House Democrats as he prepares to leave office.

“Representing districts like ours forces you to work for people who disagree with you, and it teaches you that those people are not your enemies,” Golden wrote in an op-ed for the Journal News of Rockland County, New York. “They are your neighbors.”

Golden and Lawler both represent House districts that the other party’s presidential candidate won in 2024. Both are members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to accept the endorsement of my friend, Democratic Congressman Jared Golden,” Lawler said in a post to X. 

The endorsement comes as Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley in one of the most closely watched House races of the cycle, with The Caucus rating the contest as  Toss-Up. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has publicly sparred with Lawler in the past, called Lawler an “unadulterated phony who has never shown bipartisan courage when it matters,” in a statement, adding that by touting Golden’s support Lawler was "peddling an 11th hour endorsement from a retiring Congressmember who represents an out of town district more than 400 miles away."

It’s not the first time Golden has crossed the aisle and supported Republicans; earlier this month he and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington voted for several GOP bills, including a resolution condemning socialism – though the Democrats said it was because of their support of the connected Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act, which sought to keep in place a pause on lobster industry regulations aimed at protecting endangered right whales. Golden and Lawler cosponsored the bill. 

“If it's a choice between Maine fishing communities and the right whales, I, as a representative for Maine’s 2nd District, I’m going with the fishermen and the families and the communities that they live in,” Golden told the Out of State Substack newsletter following the vote.

Other House Democrats sharply criticized Golden’s endorsement of Lawler. Rep. Johnny Olszewski of Maryland told Axios “At a moment when Republicans in Congress are completely unwilling to stand up to an out of control President, I find it hard to understand why any Democrat would do anything to help them keep their majority.

(Photo: Rep. Jared Golden, via Congressman Jared Golden Facebook)