28 Facts About Eric Brakey

Eric Brakey was born on August 8,1988 and is an American politician and the Executive Director of the Free State Project.

Eric Brakey was elected to the state senate for district 20 in 2014.

Eric Brakey served as chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Eric Brakey was Maine state director for the 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaign; he led Ron Paul's supporters to win a majority of Maine delegate seats to the 2012 Republican National Convention, and won key seats on the Maine Republican state committee and national committee.

In 2020, Eric Brakey sought the Republican nomination for Maine's 2nd congressional district, but placed third in the Republican primary election behind state representative Dale Crafts and Adrienne Bennett.

In 2022, Eric Brakey won a third term in the Maine State Senate after four years out of office.

Eric Brakey resigned in November 2024 in order to move to New Hampshire.

Eric Brakey served as the Maine state director for the 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaign during the events of the 2012 Maine Republican Convention, in which Ron Paul supporters elected a majority of Maine delegates to the Republican National Convention, and took over many key positions in the Maine Republican Party.

In June 2012, Eric Brakey founded the Defense of Liberty PAC, a libertarian political action committee in Maine.

Eric Brakey announced his campaign for Maine state senate in July 2013.

In 2016, as senate chairman for the Health and Human Services Committee, Eric Brakey negotiated welfare reform legislation, which banned the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds on purchases of tobacco, liquor, gambling materials, lottery tickets, bail, firearms, vacations, adult entertainment, and tattoos.

Eric Brakey was the sole "no" vote in the senate against the creation of the Maine Capital Investment Fund; in floor speeches, he opposed the fund, which directed public funds for a loan program to incentivize large, out-of-state businesses to relocate to Maine.

Eric Brakey has sponsored legislation to eliminate Maine's business income tax, while eliminating 47 state tax credits or exemptions enjoyed by a number of industries.

Eric Brakey referred to these credits and exemptions as "carve-outs" and "corporate welfare"; the measure was opposed by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.

In 2015, Eric Brakey sponsored legislation to repeal state restrictions on patient access to medical marijuana in hospital and nursing home settings.

Eric Brakey supported the Maine Marijuana Legalization, a ballot question on the Maine 2016 ballot that legalized adult use marijuana in the state.

In 2015, Eric Brakey introduced legislation to eliminate cash bail in Maine and replace it with a risk-assessment system that would allow defendants not determined to be a flight risk to be released pending trial.

Eric Brakey has sponsored legislation to allow the expungement of certain nonviolent criminal records five years after the completion of the sentence, citing legislation signed into law by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin as his model.

Eric Brakey initially declined to say for who he voted in the 2016 presidential election, saying only that he did not vote for Hillary Clinton.

At the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Eric Brakey represented Maine on the National Platform Committee.

Eric Brakey sponsored several amendments to the platform that were successfully adopted, including a measure that declared support for "Right To Try" legislation, which would allow terminally ill patients to try investigational medicines not approved by the FDA, as well as measures supporting an audit of the Pentagon, the abolishment of the IRS and development of thorium nuclear power.

Eric Brakey sponsored several amendments that were voted down, including a measure that would have declared support for medical marijuana, and another measure that would have condemned US military intervention in Libya and called the "deposing of secular dictators in the Middle East" a "failed policy" that should be ended.

King received 344,575 votes ; Eric Brakey received 223,502 votes, and Democratic nominee Zak Ringelstein received 66,268 votes.

In September 2019, Eric Brakey announced his candidacy for Maine's second district of the United States House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Jared Golden.

Eric Brakey earned early endorsements from several Republicans in Maine's state legislature as well as endorsements from conservative organizations such as Club for Growth and FreedomWorks.

Eric Brakey finished with the fewest votes of the 3 Republican primary candidates.

In late 2023, the Free State Project, a migration project to get 20,000 or more libertarians to move to the US state of New Hampshire in order to concentrate the efforts of libertarian activists in one area, tapped Eric Brakey to be their latest Executive Director.

Eric Brakey said that he would finish out his term in the state senate in Maine prior to moving to New Hampshire and working full-time as the newest Executive Director of the FSP in New Hampshire.