AUGUSTA, Maine — Sen. Eric Brakey, an Auburn Republican who has advocated for libertarian ideas during his time in the Legislature, will not seek reelection in 2024 and will instead lead a New Hampshire political “migration” group that has recruited libertarians to the Granite State.
Brakey, 35, informed supporters of his decision to not seek a fourth term in a Thursday morning email and said serving in the Maine Senate since 2014 has been “the greatest honor of my life.”
Brakey, who tried to unseat U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, in 2018 and also sought the GOP nomination for the 2nd Congressional District in 2020, said he is starting a new job Friday as executive director of the Free State Project, an organization “whose mission is to build a homeland for liberty in the state of New Hampshire.” Brakey noted the group is endorsed by “a hero of mine,” former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul.
The Free State Project’s website said it has attracted more than 20,000 people to New Hampshire while “turning the tide against big government, and we’re experiencing the benefits of expanded personal and economic freedoms.”
Brakey said he will move to neighboring New Hampshire for the new job with the group that formed in 2001, calling it a “bittersweet decision” but mentioning how “conversations with my wife increasingly focus on our shared desire to grow our family and the challenges of doing so on this current path.”
“At the end of the day…one idea keeps ringing through my mind: ‘A Free Maine requires a Free New Hampshire,’” Brakey told supporters, adding that while Maine has followed much of New England into “progressivism,” New Hampshire “sits on the knife’s edge between liberty and tyranny.”
“In the immediate term, I believe there must be at least one bastion for liberty in New England,” added Brakey, whose Senate district includes Auburn, Poland, New Gloucester and Durham. “If I can help tip the scales, I feel called to do what I can.”
Brakey’s Maine Senate seat has shifted between Republicans and Democrats over the years. The Senate currently has 22 Democrats and 13 Republicans. The House of Representatives and governor’s office are also under Democratic control.
The Ohio native who was a professional actor before venturing into politics has championed various libertarian and conservative causes while in the Maine Senate, supporting marijuana legalization and sponsoring a 2015 “constitutional carry” law that repealed the state’s permit requirement for concealed handguns.
He also went viral in March for a floor speech in which he opposed a resolution expressing support for the people of Ukraine near the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, calling out the “propaganda of the corporate media and the Washington war machine.”
Brakey has railed against leaders he views as “warmongers” in both major parties and has not been shy to break from more conservative party colleagues on various issues, such as by supporting expanded access to over-the-counter birth control.
In 2014, Brakey became the nation’s youngest state senator at the age of 26 after unseating Sen. John Cleveland, a Democrat also from the swing city of Auburn.
He headed Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign in Maine, where Paul supporters took over the party convention to secure a majority of delegates and in 2016, he chaired Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s brief presidential campaign in Maine.
King cruised to reelection in the 2018 race against Brakey and Democrat Zak Ringelstein. In 2020, Brakey finished third in the 2nd District GOP primary, with U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, going on to defeat Dale Crafts. Brakey was also nominated by Republicans in 2020 to be a Maine secretary of state candidate.
“While I am called to depart for a time, I will only be next door,” Brakey told supporters Thursday. “And though I know not when, with generations of my ancestors buried under Maine soil, I have little doubt my life’s journey will call me home again one day.”
