If you believe the advertisements slinging mud all around Maine’s 2nd District, the Republican congressional candidate wants to gut Social Security and the Democratic incumbent is akin to a fish flopping this way and that on issue after issue.

Not surprisingly, the reality is quite different.

In a campaign drawing attention from every political action committee in the land seeking to shift the balance in the U.S. House, it’s virtually inevitable that the truth about the agenda of the two men on the ballot will wind up buried beneath a tidal wave of misleading rhetoric.

Beneath it all, there is a basic truth: In a lot of ways, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Lewiston, a three-term Democrat, and Republican challenger Austin Theriault from Fort Kent aren’t all that far apart on many of the issues of the day.

Consider, for example, the sole policy proclamation on Theriault’s campaign website: “We need more balance and less extremism in Washington. Maine’s congressman should think about the people of Maine rather than pushing a specific political agenda.”

That could just as easily have come from Golden, who is by a wide margin the Democrat most likely to vote with the GOP majority.

Yet there are also genuine differences between the two men. They just aren’t the ones that most of the millions of dollars of angry, sometimes untruthful ads focus on.

But has Golden ever flipped or flopped? Yes, a little.

In 2018, when he was running for Congress for the first time, he said he favored Medicare for all and opposed tariffs.

Now he’s backed away from the universal health care plan and recently came out for a 10% across-the-board tariff that he said would encourage more jobs and business in America, an argument President Donald Trump has often made.

But a willingness to reconsider one’s positions isn’t a sin, even in politics.

Finding out where Theriault stands on the issues is tougher than discovering what Golden thinks about them.

The Republican’s website says nothing substantive about his agenda and his social media sticks to a limited roll of complaints that Golden doesn’t do enough for the lobster industry or other obscure charges.

Golden’s website, in contrast, has a long list of his priorities and proposals. He’s been a staunch supporter of both labor and women’s rights. He is tough on national security issues, including voting with the GOP majority last week to criticize President Joe Biden’s handling of the retreat from Afghanistan.

In addition to his website and social media, Golden, who has been in Congress since winning office six years ago, has compiled a long voting record in the House.

He’s also issued detailed explanations of his thinking on some of the major controversies of his tenure, from the impeachment of Trump to how best to change the nation’s gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting in his hometown last year.

Theriault is a first-term state lawmaker whose record is thinner. But he, too, has taken votes on issues that matter and talked about some of the ones that garner wide attention from the public.

This story aims to explain the candidates’ positions on some key issues on which they don’t agree. Upcoming debates should highlight even more of them.

Guns

Until 18 people were gunned down at two entertainment venues in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, Golden had solid backing from groups that love guns.

Two years ago, he got a B rating from the National Rifle Association, the highest grade any Democrat in Congress received.

But times have changed.

The day after the shooting, at a press conference at City Hall, Golden declared, “I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles.”

“To the people of Lewiston, my constituents throughout the 2nd District, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed, I ask for forgiveness and support as I seek to put an end to these terrible shootings,” Golden added.

His declaration drew cheers from gun control advocates and many shocked constituents. But it also attracted jeers from those who argued the Democrat had betrayed them.

The NRA dropped Golden’s grade to an F and, after making no endorsement in the district in 2022, threw its support to Theriault, who received an A grade.

Theriault cast controversial votes in Augusta that would have allowed teachers to arm themselves on school grounds and give individuals with permits the right to possess guns on public school property.

Abortion

In simplest terms, Golden calls himself “pro-choice” while Theriault refers to himself as “pro-life,” buzzwords that indicate Golden’s support for abortion rights and Theriault’s opposition to them.

The issue has become a campaign staple across America in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and opened the doors for states to establish their own rules governing abortion.

Golden said the court made “a grave mistake” in that ruling, Dobbs v. Jackson.

He said this year that Roe v. Wade, a decision issued in 1973, “established the important precedent that women deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions, and that precedent rightfully stood for decades.”

“The overturning of Roe took away that freedom from women all over the country,” he said, and “Congress has a responsibility to restore it.”

But Theriault, who twice voted in Augusta against adding a woman’s right to choose abortion to Maine’s constitution, said the court “was right to put the issue back to the states.”

Ukraine

From the time Russian troops poured into Ukraine in 2022, Golden has been among the most stalwart supporters of its quest to oust its invaders and restore its internationally recognized borders.

“We should give the Ukrainians the things they need to win this war,” he said in 2023.

Golden has repeatedly called on the Biden administration to provide more sophisticated weaponry with fewer restrictions on its use to help Ukraine emerge with victory.

Theriault has been more skeptical, insisting there is “a clear contrast” between his stance and Golden’s.

Though Theriault agreed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a scourge that must be stopped,” he also said he is “not for giving Ukraine a blank check like Jared is.”

He voted against a resolution in the state House that expressed support for the people of Ukraine, which the Legislature approved, and instead called for greater oversight on aid to Ukraine.

Immigration

Though Theriault has sought to make the security of America’s borders a campaign issue, it is not clear whether the candidates’ stance on immigration is much different.

Theriault has argued on the campaign trail that Golden failed to join Republicans in pressing for continuance of measures adopted by Trump, including construction of a border wall and a system for handling asylum seekers put in place during the pandemic.

But Golden, unlike Theriault, expressed strong support for a package of reforms negotiated among Senate leaders from both parties that included funding for more border agents, new asylum rules and a host of other items that U.S. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, called “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border and give future administrations the effective tools they need to stop the border chaos and protect our nation.”

That bill failed to become law after opponents say Trump, who endorsed Theriault, told GOP lawmakers to kill it so that immigration would remain a hot campaign issue.

Theriault has made a clampdown his top priority. He said last spring his first act in Congress would be to “fund the completion of Trump’s border wall.”

A smattering of other issues

Theriault is a strong supporter of Trump. Golden has refused to say whether he’ll vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

Golden is strongly pro-labor on almost every issue that union leaders support.

The Maine AFL-CIO said last week that Golden has “a consistent record of support for union and nonunion workers alike, including votes to raise the minimum wage, create a national Paid Family and Medical Leave program, strengthen and improve Social Security for all retirees, and crack down on corporate greed. “

It said that Theriault, on the other hand, failed to support any of the bills labor backed in Augusta.

Theriault voted against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and opposed paid family medical leave. He also favored a Republican-backed “right to work” bill that would have prohibited union contracts that require all workers covered by its term to pay union dues.

Theriault, though, has said he poses no threat to Social Security.

“I’ll always protect Social Security and Medicare, no matter what party tries to cut them,” he vowed a week ago, echoing the position he’s held since the campaign began.

The election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Absentee ballots will be available in early October.