RALEIGH — Longtime Republican House Rep. Jason Saine will resign from the North Carolina General Assembly effective Aug. 12.
“After much contemplation and consideration, I am choosing to step from public life to pursue several unique professional opportunities that have presented themselves,” wrote the 50-year-old from Lincoln County in his resignation letter to House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain). “These roles will allow me to continue advocating for the policies I am passionate about, including consulting on several key issues that are close to my heart. I remain open to exploring avenues where I can contribute to policy development within North Carolina and beyond.”
It’s the second announced departure from the legislature by a Republican in recent weeks. In late June, Sen. Jim Perry (R-Lenoir) announced he would resign ahead of the November election.
Saine, the House Conference chair and a Senior Appropriations chair who has served in the legislature for 13 years, expressed his “deepest gratitude” to his constituents for their “unwavering support and trust.”
He said his resignation is “bittersweet,” noting the sacrifices his family made while he served, and said he looks forward to spending more time with his wife and son.
Saine characterized his time at the legislature serving Lincoln County as an “unparalleled honor.”
“To my colleagues, past and present, thank you for the camaraderie and the collaborative spirit that we shared,” Saine wrote. “Working alongside each of you has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.”
In his resignation letter and accompanying press release, Saine said his reason for departing was “to embrace new professional opportunities.”
In an interview Monday with North State Journal, Saine hinted at a possible lobbying opportunity in the mental health space but did not go into specifics, citing his Aug. 12 official resignation date.
Saine was first appointed to the House in September 2011 to replace Rep. Jonathan Rhyne, who resigned, and has won reelection to the seat by wide margins throughout his tenure.
He ran unopposed in 2016 and 2022, and he was to be unopposed again in November’s election.
Saine said he has an idea of who will fill his seat but didn’t reveal a name, saying, “It’s someone that is already involved, engaged politically locally” and a “dear friend” who is “very qualified.”
Saine recalled a conversation with former House Speaker Harold Brubaker from Randolph County, who had been a mentor to Saine prior to becoming a lawmaker, about his resignation. Saine asked him when he knew it was time to leave the General Assembly, and Brubaker replied, “I’d imagine you’re probably like me. Just gonna wake up one morning and you realize it’s time to move on to something different.”
“That’s kind of what happened to me,” said Saine. “It just kind of came over me as an idea.” He added he had been mulling it over for several months and had discussed it with his family.
Some of Saine’s notable accomplishments include the earning the “Humane State Legislator” award in 2013 from the Humane Society of the United States for his work fighting puppy mills in North Carolina. The following year, the American Legislative Exchange Council named him “Legislator of the Year.”
The Lincoln County representative has consistently backed school choice, and his 16-year-old son attends a charter school. Saine was presented with the “2015 Charter Champion Award” by the North Carolina Public Schools Association. The same year, Saine’s work on reforming taxes earned him a “Legislator of the Year” honor from the North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association.
On his top accomplishments while a lawmaker, Saine cited broadband expansion in 2017, his work with child advocacy centers, sports betting legislation and his work supporting firefighters — in the past, he served as a volunteer firefighter — in his county and across the state.
Saine cited the 5G legislation in House Bill 319 as a bill the General Assemble “really got it right.” He added that one of the FCC chairs had used the legislation as a model for the national footprint of 5G.
“If you look at any national digital footprint map of 5G connectivity, it shows we were right,” said Saine.
“Work with child advocacy centers has been huge for me,” Saine said, adding it is not something his family has dealt with but said that child abuse and child molestation “reads like a horror story, and it is.”
Saine described getting city officials and county commissioners to fund child advocacy centers when sequestration hit, and he later took it as a “personal mission” to get funding into the state budget.
“It’s just one of the things that I’ve just been very passionate about, and it’s a huge victory there,” said Saine. “And we took them from, I think like an initial $1 million in funding to an annual $12 million in funding statewide; that, I would say, is huge.”
Saine said the COVID-19 pandemic was the most serious issue he dealt with as a legislator. He described meeting in February 2020 to discuss budget items, the surplus and what the legislature was going to act on when the “world came to a screeching halt.”
He described the scramble to figure out what it all meant and how to keep the state moving forward, saying he and his colleagues worked to “put our state in the best possible position,” saying it was “a lot of work … (and) a lot of Zoom calls.”
On a lighter note, Saine said one of his fondest memories was when the House floor broke into fits of laughter after his joke about his tattoos. Another member asked him what his tattoo was, and Saine replied, “Elvis.” Former Rep. David Lewis then asked if it was skinny or fat Elvis.
“My response was, ‘Well, when I got the tattoo it was of a skinny Elvis, and now it’s a fat Elvis,” Saine said while laughing.
Saine said his time in the General Assembly was filled with many “victories and losses,” but it was overall a “great experience.”
“But every day is a new challenge,” Saine said. “And you’re working with people from all sides of the aisle who’ve come from very different perspective. … And so I think for me, from a personal standpoint, I could never have hoped for such a great experience of really getting to know other people.”
