Sterlin Sykes of Jefferson is pictured signing up to run for Congress at the Secretary of State’s Office in Concord on Tuesday. Paula Tracy photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Sterling Sykes of Jefferson was among a steady stream of candidates who made it to the Secretary of State’s office Tuesday to file to run for office this fall.
He has big hopes to go to Washington.
Sykes is an Independent running for the District 2 Congressional seat now being vacated by U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH.
He has a Facebook page focused on his candidacy https://www.facebook.com/groups/1133004057712114/ and joins a long list of those who want to see change in Washington.
He paid his $50 fee and filled out the form in person just after Colin Van Ostern of Concord, a Democrat for the same seat, came in with his family and supporters who lined the hallway on the second floor of the State House with signs and buttons, one of which Sykes put on his tie-dye shirt.
Van Ostern took questions from the media that packed into the little office much as they did for first in the nation primary for President and his campaign staff passed out press releases with a link to his website https://vanostern.com/
“I think this election is about how we change Washington,” said Van Ostern. “And there is only one way to fix what is broken right now and that is by putting everyday families like the one that I grew up in first. I think most people, unfortunately, are pretty embarrassed by what they see out of our nation’s capital these days and we need to do more to put everyday middle class families first, especially in things like protecting reproductive rights…”
That concluded a busy morning in the corner office in which Republican Vikram Mansharamani of Lincoln https://vikram4nh.com/ signed up for the CD 2 race with a lot of fanfare and a quick huddle in the hallway before going upstairs with Republican House Speaker Sherman Packard.
Chris Bright, a political newcomer and soldier, also signed up as a candidate for the First Congressional District as a Republican with supporters by his side. A link to his website is here https://chrisbright.org/meet-chris/
The candidates for Congress, governor, State Senate, House seats and other races have until Friday at 5 p.m. to file to make it on the ballot for the state’s primary Sept. 10 and the winners of those primaries will go to a Nov. 5
The cost for filing is $2 for state Rep and those candidates need to file with their town clerk or city clerk. Others head to the Secretary of State’s office during this 10-day filing period.
It cost $10 to run for state senator, $25 for Executive Council and $100 for governor and $50 for either of the congressional seats.
Candidates can withdraw without penalty until the filings are closed at 5 p.m. on June 14 and after that, their name will appear on the ballot.
While there is no requirement to do so, the Secretary of State’s office keeps a running list of candidates who have penciled in a time to come in and Wednesday both Democrat Maggie Goodlander who is running for the Second Congressional District https://maggiefornh.com/meet-maggie/ is expected at 10 a.m. and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate and current Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington expects to sign up at 2:30. Information on her candidacy is at https://www.cindewarmington.com/
Also filing is Democrat Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon, running for Executive Council at 12:30 p.m. Her website is here https://www.karenliothill.com
The list for later this week includes former Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte on Thursday at 10 a.m. She is running for governor as a Republican https://kellyfornh.com/. Former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott is also expected Thursday at noon and is running as a Republican for Congress in the First Congressional District https://www.prescottforcongress.com/.
On Friday, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig is expected to sign up as a Democratic candidate for governor https://joycecraig.org/ at 9 a.m.
Former Senate President Chuck Morse was the first to sign up last Monday. He is a Republican candidate for governor.
Every day at 4 p.m. during the filing period, staff updates the website at https://www.sos.nh.gov/2024-election-details where you can look up who has filed for which office.