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Eric’s post on X.

Friends —

I write to you today with news about the road ahead, and I wanted you to be among the first to know.

After months of soul-searching and reflection, I have decided against seeking a 4th term in the Maine Senate.

Serving in the Maine Senate for three terms on behalf of my constituents — defending the freedoms and paychecks of all Maine people — has been (and continues to be) the greatest honor of my life.

With the help of my late mentor, the Honorable Lois Snowe-Mello (who also represented this Senate district for three terms), I was elected the youngest state senator in America at the age of 26.

A decade later, my name has appeared on the ballot every election cycle since. In that time, I am proud to have led to charge to:

- Restore 2nd Amendment rights with Constitutional Carry;
- Reform welfare to bring more integrity into our social safety net programs;
- Enact Right to Try legislation to save the lives of terminally ill Mainers;
- Expand access to birth control through over-the-counter availability;
- Foster a small business-driven market for medical cannabis;
- Empower elementary students to win the freedom to own hedgehogs as pets.

At the age of 30, it was also my honor to carry the Maine Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, meeting people from all corners and walks of life in our great Pine Tree State — and garnering nearly a quarter million votes.

As I approach the age of 36, however, conversations with my wife increasingly focus on our shared desire to grow our family and the challenges of doing so on this current path.

When I look around today in Augusta, I am proud to say there are dozens more champions of liberty within the Republican caucus than when I first began. I am confident they will continue the liberty project in the Maine Legislature in the years ahead when I am no longer there.

And when I look around the country, hundreds of liberty legislators have taken up the charge in their own state capitals where once only a few existed. There is great cause for optimism, both in Maine and across the country.

While my time in public office is coming to a close, my service to the causes I have always fought for will continue in a new fashion.

Beginning tomorrow, December 1, I am stepping into the role of Executive Director for the Free State Project — an organization (endorsed by a hero of mine, former Congressman Ron Paul) whose mission is to build a homeland for liberty in the state of New Hampshire.

Over their twenty-two years in existence, the Free State Project has led thousands of liberty-loving Americans to move to New Hampshire. The movement is having profound impacts on the politics and culture of the state, as well as broader New England — including the passage of remarkable school choice legislation that has become a model for the nation.

During interviews for this position, one of my conditions was flexibility to fulfill my commitment to the people of Auburn, New Gloucester, Poland, and Durham. My constituents elected me to a two-year term and I keep my promises. You can count on me to defend our freedoms and paychecks during my last year in the Maine Senate as fiercely as I ever have.

Upon the completion of my term, however, this opportunity will require me to move to New Hampshire. Having dedicated the last decade of my life to the fight for a Free Maine, I hope you can understand that this is a bitter-sweet decision for me. At the end of the day, however, one idea keeps ringing through my mind: “A Free Maine requires a Free New Hampshire.”

While the Maine electorate has lately followed the rest of New England into the siren song of progressivism — electing politicians who believe we can tax, print, borrow, and spend our way into prosperity, while stripping the people of their fundamental freedoms in exchange for temporary illusions of safety — New Hampshire sits on the knife’s edge between liberty and tyranny.
10:47 AM · Nov 30, 2023
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