Travis Corcoran

Travis Corcoran is an American politician and writer. He serves as a Republican member for the Hillsborough 44th district of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He describes his political orientation as anarcho-capitalist.

Biography

Corcoran earned a degree in computer science and history from Cornell University in 1993 and has worked professionally as a software engineer.

In 2003, Corcoran founded the online video rental service SmartFlix, specializing in instructional videos. In 2007, he founded the online comic book retailer HeavyInk. Both businesses closed in March 2016.

Corcoran is a Roman Catholic.

Writings

Corcoran runs Morlock Publishing, a small science fiction press. His 2017 hard science fiction novel '' The Powers of the Earth'' was awarded the 2018 Prometheus Best Novel Award by the Libertarian Futurist Society, and his 2018 novel ''Causes of Separation'' won the 2019 award.

Corcoran is a smallholder farmer and author of ''Escape the City'', a homesteading manual targeted towards city-dwellers desiring to move to the country.

Political positions

Abortion

Corcoran stated in response to CitizensCount's 2022 candidate survey that he believed "current NH abortion laws make a decent trade off between conflicting interests." He voted against banning abortion after 15 days gestation, against guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion before 24 weeks, and against repealing civil and criminal penalties for healthcare providers who violate the New Hampshire's 24-week abortion ban.

Climate change

Corcoran stated in the candidate survey that he opposed what he described as "silly feel-good restrictions" on New Hampshire citizens. He voted against a greenhouse gas reduction goal of net zero by 2050.

Drug policy

Corcoran voted in support of two bills that provided for the legalization of private cannabis sales with an excise tax. He also voted in favour of a harm reduction bill to exempt some drug checking equipment such as fentanyl test strips from the definition of drug paraphernalia.

Education

Corcoran stated his support for New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account school voucher program, writing it delivered "great benefits" to families, "at a fraction of the cost of union-controlled public schools". He voted in favour of two bills to increase the household income limit for Education Freedom Account eligibility.

Corcoran voted in favour of a significant increase to state funding for special education students.

Corcoran has stated that he supports a ban on teaching certain concepts relating to race, such as the idea that people may be inherently "racist, sexist, or oppressive". He voted in favour of a ban on the teaching of certain sex-related content in schools.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Corcoran voted against a bill allowing medical aid in dying.

Free speech

In 2023, Corcoran along with three other legislators sponsored an anti-SLAPP bill. The Institute for Free Speech rates New Hampshire as the worst in the union when it comes to anti-SLAPP protections. The bill was ultimately defeated.

Gun control

Corcoran opposes stricter gun control laws. He voted against a proposed red flag law, against a requirement that firearms be traded through licensed dealers with background checks, and against the establishment of a system for the State of New Hampshire to report some mental health records to the federal firearm background check system.

LGBT+ rights

Corcoran stated that he is in favour of banning discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3. Corcoran voted in favour of a bill prohibiting students of male biology from playing on female middle and high school sports teams. He also voted for a bill banning gender transition medical care for minors under age 18, and to prohibit teaching about gender identity in public schools (outside of high school psychology courses), and requiring students to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex.

Corcoran was interviewed by the New York Times for a 2005 article on the issue of the Vatican barring homosexuals from the priesthood. He stated, "If it is part of church doctrine, we'd be better off with 5 percent less priests, but who conform to church doctrine, rather than a few more."

Employment rights

Corcoran voted to consider the introduction of right-to-work legislation, and voted against two bills that provided for increases to the minimum wage. Corcoran wrote in his 2024 CitizensCount Issue Survey response, "Minimum wages make it illegal to hire low-skill workers, who benefit most from gaining experience."

Property rights

In response to Kelo v. New London, a 2005 decision in which the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not prohibit a local government from condemning private property in order to transfer the land to a commercial developer, Corcoran created an online pledge form in which potential patrons would pledge to spend at least one week at a proposed Lost Liberty Hotel, to be built on the site of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter's house which would be seized for the purpose.

Public health

Corcoran voted against a bill banning PFAS in a range of consumer products.

Taxation

Corcoran has stated that he is opposed to the introduction of any new taxes and he supports cutting existing taxes and cutting government spending.

Tenants' rights

Corcoran voted against a bill requiring landlords to give tenants a notice period ranging from 30 days to six months before rent increases.

Controversies

In 2011, police in Corcoran's hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts revoked his firearms license and seized his firearms over a blog post he made after the 2011 Tucson shooting, writing, "1 down, 534 to go." and, "It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone." Corcoran was not arrested and did not face any criminal charges.

In 2013, Corcoran posted on Twitter in support of activists in the Netherlands who were commemorating George Orwell's birthday by placing party hats on surveillance cameras, saying that "shooting statists who emplace surveillance cameras" was "best", in comparison to merely shooting or obstructing the cameras. As a result of this post, police raided his home, seized unsecured firearms registered to his girlfriend, and threatened them both with prosecution for felony improper storage of firearms. Corcoran sold his home and business and moved to New Hampshire after this incident, stating in a post on Twitter that Massachusetts was a "police state".

In 2020, Corcoran experienced harassment and death threats on Twitter from another author, Lyndon McLeod, who went on to commit the 2021 Denver and Lakewood shootings.

Corcoran was criticized in ''NH Journal'' in 2023 after he encouraged people to use racial epithets as a matter of principle under his official Morlock Publishing Twitter account.

In 2025, in response to a request to wear an orange shirt to bring awareness to gun violence, Corcoran responded, in part that "All of the data that I read indicates that violence isn’t associated with the presence of guns, but with the presence of African Americans,"...“Blacks commit violent crimes at 5-10x the rate of whites… I will wear a black T-shirt on Friday, June 6, to help make people aware of the fact that crime is predominantly caused by African Americans, and not by guns.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corcoran, Travis
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Republican Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
American anarcho-capitalists
American science fiction writers
21st-century American novelists
Cornell University alumni
21st-century members of the New Hampshire General Court