Rep. Kristen Cloutier, a Lewiston Democrat, has resigned from her seat to take a job as chief of staff to Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry.

“This is a bittersweet transition,” Cloutier said in a Facebook post over the weekend. “I am super excited to begin this new chapter, and also sad to be leaving a 25-year career at Bates College and to resign from serving as the State Representative for House District 94 in Lewiston, a position I have cherished since stepping foot in the State House seven years ago.”

Cloutier did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Her departure narrows the slim majority Democrats have in the Maine House, where they now hold 74 seats compared to 73 held by Republicans. Three representatives are unenrolled.

Cloutier previously was the assistant majority leader in the Maine House of Representatives, where she was reelected to a fourth term last year. She was serving as House chair of the taxation committee at the time her resignation took effect Friday, according to a news release from the House Democratic Office announcing that Rep. Dan Sayre, D-Kennebunk, will take over that role.

For Cloutier’s seat to be filled by a special election, municipal leaders in Lewiston will need to make a request to the governor to have the vacancy filled prior to the next regular election in November 2026, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Monday.

Once that request is made, Bellows said, the governor can then issue a proclamation declaring a vacancy and special election.

Cloutier’s new job as Daughtry’s chief of staff pays an annual salary of $142,001, according to the Office of the Secretary of the Senate.