A top state attorney in Democrat-controlled Maryland says he has had enough and is throwing in the towel after saying the Old Line State has suffered an «insane» «ultra-progressive» takeover.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Haven Shoemaker, state attorney for Maryland’s Carroll County, said that after decades in public service, he is «sick to death» of the policies that «emanate» from the state capital in Annapolis. He said he is especially disgusted with Maryland’s «sanctuary» policies and the high taxes he said are being levied in part to pay for more services for illegal immigrants.

«Maryland has become California on the Chesapeake,» said Shoemaker. «It only gets worse. It’s not getting better. And at some point, I just had to make a personal decision that it’s time to throw in the towel and head for what I believe are greener pastures.»

Shoemaker is not the only one. He said that he sees Marylanders giving up on the state «all the time.»

«The State of Maryland has one of the worst outward migration numbers of any state in the country right now,» he said. «So, I don’t know who’s going to be the last to foot the bill for the profligate spending that Annapolis likes to engage in, but it’s not going to be me, I can tell you that.»

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Moore’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions. Fox News Digital also reached out to Maryland House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson for comment.

Born in Baltimore in the 1960s, Shoemaker spent three decades in local and state politics before taking the job as Carroll County’s top prosecutor in 2023. His career in public service includes seven years as mayor of Hampstead, Maryland, four years as a Carroll County commissioner and nine years in the Maryland House of Delegates. He rose to the role of House Minority Whip for the Maryland Republican Party.

Despite years deeply involved in state politics, Shoemaker said his decision to abandon Maryland has been a long time coming.

«I’ve been contemplating this move for a while, but the linchpin for me was this most recent legislative session where they essentially made Maryland a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants,» he told Fox News Digital.

Earlier this year, the Maryland General Assembly passed an emergency measure to ban local and state law enforcement agencies from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through what is known as the 287(g) program. Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, whose name has been floated as a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, signed the bill into law.

While emphasizing that law enforcement would continue cooperating with ICE on deporting individuals who «pose a risk to public safety,» Moore lauded the bill, saying, «We will not allow untrained, unqualified and unaccountable agents to deputize our brave local law enforcement officers,» according to WYPR.

While signing the measure, Moore stressed his view that «Maryland is a community of immigrants,» saying, «It is not our weakness, it’s our strength.»

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The Maryland State Capitol building in Annapolis, Md. (Getty Images)

Shoemaker, meanwhile, said that Maryland’s sanctuary-style policies are «just part of the problem.»

«In addition to that, their tax policy here is horrendous,» he said. He pointed to how state leaders raised taxes in Maryland last year by $1.6 billion.

The tax raise was passed by the State Assembly and approved by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore as part of a $67 billion state budget in 2025. The raise was part of a plan to address roughly a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Maryland’s budget is relatively large compared to other states, despite the state ranking 18th in population and 42nd in land size.

Shoemaker said that state leaders are «already looking at a structural deficit going into next year’s budget of another billion and a half or so.» He asserted the «handwriting is on the wall» that «Maryland politicians are beholden to their ultra-progressive base.»

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speak to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 3, 2024. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg)

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In the end, Shoemaker said that he has finally decided to escape to the South and head for North Carolina.

«A lot of taxpayers from across the State of Maryland are fleeing in droves,» he said. He added a warning to Moore and other Maryland leaders: «If you want to staunch the bleeding that’s occurring, maybe you should rethink your policies.»

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Donald Trump, en el Salón Oval de la Casa Blanca, con el vicepresidente JD Vance (izq) y el secreario de Estado, Marco Rubio, este jueves. Foto: BLOOMBERG

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Maine Democrat Graham Platner is vowing to pursue closer ties with China if elected to the Senate, arguing that the U.S. should be «far more cooperative» with the communist state on issues like climate change.

«I think our position towards China should be one of cooperation instead of one of opposition,» Platner said during a livestream in February, arguing it would be «absurd» to have an aggressive approach toward Beijing, citing its trade relationship with the United States.

«I am not a China hawk, not by any stretch of the imagination,» he continued. «I think we need to be figuring out how to integrate, or at least be far more cooperative, especially to fight challenges like climate change.»

Platner, a staunch progressive, is running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November’s midterm elections. His views on China appear to be well outside the political mainstream and place him to the left of many Democratic lawmakers, who see the country as the United States’ most formidable strategic competitor or a geopolitical threat.

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The Senate hopeful has also argued that fascism followed by climate change is the top two challenges facing the United States on the world stage.

«Before the rise of fascism, I would have said that the biggest challenge we have … globally is climate change,» Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, said during the livestream. 

Platner referred to federal immigration officers as «armed thugs,» accusing them of murdering American citizens, an apparent reference to two fatal shootings during an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis earlier this year.

He has previously advocated for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and dragging agents in front of Congress to testify about their work.

Platner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) sharply criticized Platner’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

«Graham Platner’s soft-on-communism radical ideology would lift up dictators, threaten America’s national security, and cost American lives,» RNC spokeswoman Kristen Cianci said in a statement. «He has no business in the Senate or any position of power.»

Senate candidate Graham Platner, D-Maine, acknowledges a large crowd during a town hall at Bunker Brewing in Portland, Maine, on Sept. 25, 2025. (Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald via AP)

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Platner is facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, in an increasingly nasty primary that has split factions of the Democratic Party. Leading progressives, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have endorsed him while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who leads the party’s establishment wing, is supporting Mills. 

Sanders and Warren have doubled down on their embrace of Platner despite the political newcomer’s bevy of controversial online posts and scrutiny over a Nazi-linked tattoo that he has had removed.

Platner called for deposing Schumer as Democratic leader, weakening the filibuster to ease the passage of left-wing legislation and adding seats to the Supreme Court to dilute the power of the conservative majority, in an interview with NBC News this week.

Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine and two-term Gov. Janet Mills are competing in the state’s Democratic Senate primary. (Sophie Park/Getty Images; Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

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The Sanders-backed oyster farmer has carved out a dominant lead in recent polling ahead of the June primary, despite Mills serving as the most senior-ranking Democrat in the state. 

Collins is running for a sixth Senate term in the blue-leaning state. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as a «toss-up.»