“I am not walking away with my head hung low," he told the Press Herald. "I am walking away with my head held high.” He has since deleted his personal Twitter account and set his campaign's Twitter to private. Gibson said he made the decision after talking with his family, praying and discussing it with friends and colleagues, including Thomas Martin Jr., another Republican contender who entered the 57th District race Thursday. Eryn 💕💕💕 all I can say is Thank You https://t.co/DhBR5LN3Ro 
 
 On Friday, Gibson dropped out of the race, saying, "It’s the best thing for everybody." Leslie Gibson quits state House race after Thomas Martin jumps in for GOP https://t.co/REYsl1GAR0 via @SteveCollinsSJ #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/l4I0zuh8PM — Sun Journal (@sunjournal) March 17, 2018 
 
 Gibson had become known outside his little corner of Maine for what many say was his rage-tweet against the vocal survivors of the shooting that killed 17 in Parkland, Fla. 
 
 “There is nothing about this skinhead lesbian that impresses me and there is nothing that she has to say unless you’re a frothing at the mouth moonbat,” the now-deleted tweet read. In another tweet, Gibson reportedly derided claims that González is a survivor of the shooting because she “was in a completely different part of the school” when the shooter opened fire and killed 17 of her classmates. Gibson apologized in a later tweet, saying, “I would like to extend to you my most sincere apology for how I addressed you. It was wrong and unacceptable.” González did not respond. It was not appropriate to single out the Parkland students, but I stand firm in my defense of our constitutional rights.” 
 
 David Hogg, the other teen Gibson insulted, tweeted on Wednesday, urging someone to run against Gibson.  In the past month, the vocal teenage survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, with their ballooning social-media followings and national TV appearances, have emerged as the newest and youngest voices in the push to beef up gun-control laws in the United States. Who wants to run against this hate loving politician he's is running UNOPPOSED RUN AGAINST HIM I don't care what party JUST DO IT. And, in yet another tweet, Gibson called David Hogg, another Parkland survivor and activist, “a bald faced liar" for his criticism of NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch. “It’s immature, rude and inhuman for these people to destroy the people trying to prevent the death of the future of America because they won’t,” he said. But his comments stirred both Martin and Democrat Eryn Gilchrist to join the contest. https://t.co/vRR7p1ZHKf — David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 14, 2018 
 
 The next day, Eryn Gilchrist, a 28-year-old Democrat who also hails from Maine’s 57th District, announced that she would also run for the seat, according to CBS News, because she was “horrified and embarrassed” that Gibson would represent her in the legislature. Gilchrist, a 28-year-old who works for a medical device company, said she'd never considered running for office, but was so “horrified and embarrassed” at the idea that Gibson might become her representative that she decided to enter the race. #mepolitics https://t.co/rVSdSad7Dd 
 
 “I would really have been happy to partake in representative democracy by voting,” Gilchrist said. Amy Volk, a Republican state senator in Maine, tweeted that Gibson had previously attacked her on social media and that he should not run for office. And Thomas Martin Jr., a Republican, said he “couldn’t sit back” after reading Gibson’s comments and felt compelled to enter the race, according to the Portland Press Herald.
– A Maine candidate's attack on an outspoken survivor of the Parkland school shooting angered so many people that he ended up having to drop out of a race in which he had been running unopposed. Leslie Gibson, a Republican who had been running for a state House seat in the 57th district, tweeted that Emma Gonzalez was a "skinhead lesbian" with nothing to say "unless you’re a frothing at the mouth moonbat." In another tweet from his now-deleted account, Gibson rejected Gonzalez's claim to be a survivor of the mass shooting, saying she had been in a "completely different part of the school," BuzzFeed reports. He also called David Hogg, another survivor, a "bald-faced liar," prompting Hogg to ask whether anybody would run against him, the Washington Post reports. After the tweets—which were denounced by several Republican state lawmakers—28-year-old Democrat Eryn Gilchrist announced her candidacy, saying she would be "horrified and embarrassed" to have Gibson represent her. Thomas Martin Jr., a Republican, also announced his candidacy, saying he represented "real Republican values," the Portland Press Herald reports. Gibson, who apologized to Gonzalez earlier in the week for the "wrong and unacceptable" way in which he addressed her, dropped out of the race Friday, saying he had made the decision after speaking to family members, friends, and Martin. "I am not walking away with my head hung low. I am walking away with my head held high," he said. (After the Parkland shooting, Gonzalez called out President Trump and the NRA.)