Eric G. Hafner was born in 1991 in
New Jersey. He says he was politically active for other candidates for years, including volunteering for a Democratic presidential campaign when he was 13 years old, then two Republican candidates,
Highlands, New Jersey mayor Anna Little's
congressional campaign in 2010, and
Ron Paul's presidential campaign in 2012. He says he was jailed when he was 16, and since then has been an advocate for
drug legalization and
criminal justice reform.
Hawaii 2016 In 2016, Hafner ran in the
Republican party primary for Hawaii's Second Congressional District. He gave his name as
Rev. Dr. Eric Hafner, or a
post office box in
Hilo, Hawaii.
Oregon 2018 In 2018, Hafner ran in the Democratic party primary for the
2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Oregon's Third Congressional District. He was at the time a resident of
Toms River, New Jersey, and had never been to the state of Oregon, the closest he had ever come being a trip to
Northern California years before. Hafner said that he ran his 2018 campaign from an undisclosed location in New Jersey, because of
outstanding warrants for his arrest from
Middletown and
Freehold townships for drug and
contempt of court charges. The indictment said that besides direct death threats to individuals, he made false
bomb threats by phone and email to an elected official's office, a county courthouse, a police department, two law firms, and a commercial establishment. and in December 2022 was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison by judge
Zahid Quraishi. Through 2024, the imprisoned Hafner filed multiple federal lawsuits
in forma pauperis charging officials in states including Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, and Vermont with raising unconstitutional barriers to his becoming a candidate in congressional races in their states. None were successful. Hafner's scheduled release date is October 12, 2036, according to the
Bureau of Prisons.
Alaska 2024 In 2024, Hafner ran as a Democrat for the
open primary for the US House of Representatives seat from Alaska. He announced his candidacy to
KRBD community radio station with a letter including a photocopy of his prison ID. Hafner was untroubled by the fact he had never been to Alaska, and observed that being a convicted felon should also not be a hindrance since another convicted felon,
Donald Trump, was the current Republican presidential nominee. and there were no
US federal prisons in Alaska, Hafner said that if he won, he would expect to be released immediately as an extraordinary circumstance under
compassionate release law, so would be able to move then. Hafner got 467 primary votes, for 0.43%, and placed sixth, after Democratic incumbent
Mary Peltola, three Republicans, and the candidate of the
Alaskan Independence Party. The
Alaska Democratic Party sued to have Hafner removed from the ballot, arguing: that he would be unable to be in the state for election day; that he should never have advanced to the ballot from sixth place; and that his presence as a Democrat on the ballot could erroneously take votes from Peltola. The race between Peltola and Begich was seen as extremely close, as was the national race for control of the US House. The Anchorage Superior Court and then the
Alaska Supreme Court ruled to keep Hafner on the ballot. Hafner, interviewed by telephone from prison, said he had entered the race not to disrupt the election but because of his strong beliefs about climate change, natural resource preservation and rights for Indigenous people, but if his candidacy should cause Peltola to lose, that would not bother him. In final results, Begich defeated Peltola by 48.4% to 46.4% of first choice votes (51.3% to 48.7% of
ranked choice votes), and the 1% that Hafner received did not make the difference. == Carol Hafner ==