State Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos said Monday that he will not seek re-election next November.

Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos

The Friendship independent, who has served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, said he is making the announcement now to clear the field for other candidates. Evangelos represents House District 91, encompassing Friendship, Waldoboro, Union and Washington. He serves on the Judiciary Committee.

Evangelos issued a statement Monday about his decision.

“It wasn’t a hard decision really,” Evangelos said. “Obstruction politics in Augusta made it an easy choice.”

Evangelos has championed criminal justice reforms in Maine.

“Most of the reform bills that I sponsored have passed the House and the Senate, only to face obstructions in the Appropriations Committee and Governor Janet Mills,” he said. “We fund the police, we fund the prosecutors, we fund the Courts and we fund the prisons without reservation. But when it comes to funding an innocence plea or effective legal defense counsel for poor people, Maine’s running a rummage sale, outside the bounds of the due process requirements of the 6th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I’ve had enough of it so I’m going to return to my activist roots of the 1960s for the next two years.”

Evangelos was first elected to the Maine House in 2012 and re-elected in 2014, but did not seek re-election in 2016. He won the seat again in 2018 and was re-elected in 2020.

Evangelos has also served as Warren town manager and was business manager for School Administrative District 40 from 1980 to 1994.