(The Center Square) — Maine’s firebrand GOP state Rep. Laurel Libby says she won’t seek re-election and plans to create a conservative PAC to help re-elect Republican Sen. Susan Collins in next year’s election.
Libby, whose censure fight with the state Legislature’s Democratic leadership garnered national attention, announced Monday that she won’t be seeking another two year term in Augusta next year.
The Auburn Republican also announced the launch of the Lead Maine Committee, a political action committee created in partnership with Sentinel Action Fund, which she said will “build and deploy the long-term conservative grassroots network needed to reach voters and turn them out” in support of Collins’s re-election next year and Republican candidates in future elections.
“Maine needs a long-term, durable campaign infrastructure that grows our conservative grassroots movement and sets Republicans up for success in 2026 and beyond,” Libby added “Defending this seat, and expanding conservative influence in the Maine Legislature, are critical to protecting our values from the far-Left policies of Janet Mills and her accomplices.”
Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited from running for reelection, is vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Collins next year along with oysterman and political newcomer Graham Platner.
Libby was censured by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, in February after she refused to apologize or take down the Facebook post criticizing a transgender athlete. The censure blocked the lawmaker, first elected in 2020, from speaking on the House floor or voting on bills until she publicly apologized.
In March, Libby sued to overturn the censure vote, claiming it violated her First Amendment rights to free speech. But the legal challenge was rejected by a federal judge who said the court lacks jurisdiction to meddle in the “internal” policies of the Maine Legislature.
Libby appealed the ruling, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied her request in a recent order. She then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case, which in May granted a preliminary injunction blocking the House’ censure vote. Libby agreed to drop her lawsuit against the Legislature after her voting and speaking rights were restored.
Libby is also a co-founder of the Dinner Table PAC in 2021, which is devoted to electing a conservative majority in the Maine House of Representatives. The group has raised more than $1 million in support of GOP candidates, according to state campaign finance data. The group pushed for a voter ID requirement in Maine, but the referendum was rejected by voters in the Nov. 4 elections.
Sentinel Action Fund President Jessica Anderson praised Libby as a “strong and effective grassroots leader” and welcomed the partnership with the Republican “to mobilize a wide coalition of voters” to support Collins’ re-election bid.
“This seat is key to protecting — and building on — Republicans’ U.S. Senate majority, and we must use every opportunity to talk to voters and get them to the polls next year,” Anderson said.
