Dear Friends, Family, Supporters, and Neighbors,

I am mostly humbled but I am also incredibly grateful to the thousands of people of Scarborough for being able to weigh the good that I have done in a public way with a regrettable choice I had made in my personal life .  When I decided to continue with the campaign, I had hoped to make amends with my neighbors and try to show them that they had not made a mistake when they asked me to Represent them two years ago.  I wanted to accept full responsibility for my actions, and that involved going to nearly every doorstep in the district.   I wanted to be able to ask for a second chance and show my commitment to my home town.   In the end, we came up a few hundred votes shy, but I am not hanging my head at all.

With lower turn out, incredible Republican excitement, we faced a tough uphill climb in this election.   I’m one of just a couple of Democrats to have ever hold this House District.  So I am actually pleased that with all of the hurdles in the campaign, including an extremely late start, we nearly completed an incredible comeback.  Not to say that the late start affected the campaign, in four short weeks I knocked on thousands of doors – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, it didn’t matter – volunteers handed out thousands of pieces of literature, and friends hand signed thousands of post cards.  In many ways, finishing this election so strongly reminds me of many of my big swim races.  If I worked as hard as I could, put my heart into a race, and put it all on the line, then the final outcome is just one part of process.  I feel the same way about this race.

It goes without saying, that I could not have knocked on even one door, or talked to even one voter had it not been for the unwavering support of my friends and family.  Especially, and I mean especially, my parents, who stood by my side during the darkest moments.  If ever a person questions my “family values” again, all I will have to do, is introduce them to Heidi and Peter Flaherty.

I had so many great supporters who had my back through this entire process.  They are the folks who helped to encourage me to stay in this and take everything on the chin, but hold my head high through it all.  They are the people who signed post cards to their friends, pounded in a yard sign that may not have seemed too popular, or told their friends at a soccer game that they were going to still vote for me.  Every vote I received in this election was earned by an incredible group of people who stood behind me when I thought no one would.

I cannot thank each of you enough.  I have made so many new friends through this entire process, and I have absolutely no regrets about my service, any of my votes, or my decision to fight on through this campaign.

My own next moves are to start the process of continuing my own education, likely by going to law school, but also to continue to serve on local Board of Directors, the Scarborough Energy Committee, and return to youth swim coaching with Coastal Maine Aquatics.  I still feel so strongly that Maine must take full advantage of the opportunities we have in a Green Economy, and I’ve already begun continuing my work in that field.

Thank you again for this incredible opportunity!

Yours truly,

Sean