John McIntyre of Hanover signs up to run as a Republican for state Senate from District 5 currently held by Sen. Sue Prentiss who has filed to return as a Democrat. Paula Tracy photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – It was a crazy busy day at the Secretary of State’s office Friday, the last of a 10-day stretch to file for office which saw former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, a Democrat file to run for governor.
Craig said she will concentrate on the state’s affordable housing crisis if elected and run on her record as an effective executive.
“This is about making sure we have a governor who is focused on ensuring that we are strengthening our local communities and making the lives of hard-working Granite Staters better; focusing on issues that matter most to residents of our state, ensuring we have affordable housing available, strengthening our public schools, addressing climate and decreasing energy costs, and protecting and expanding reproductive healthcare,” Craig said.
A link to her website is here https://joycecraig.org/
Craig will run in the Democratic primary against Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord and Jon Kiper of Newmarket in the Sept. 10 primary and the winner of that will go on to face the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary in which there are seven candidates including former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte and former Senate President Chuck Morse.
The Manchester Democrat said she has the executive experience to take on the job as the state’s governor and the work she has done in Manchester “stands.”
“The work I have done has had a positive impact” and Craig said she has first-hand experience dealing with the issues residents of the state have.
LAST DAY TO FILE
At 5 p.m. the opportunity closed to get on the ballot to run for Governor, Congress, State House, State Senate, Executive Council and other county elected office, though the New Hampshire Democratic and Republican parties have until June 19th to fill any vacancies.
A cumulative link to those who have filed at the Secretary of State’s office is here: https://www.sos.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt561/files/documents/2024-06/cumulative-filings-6.14.24.pdf
The filings are incomplete as they relate to the House of Representatives.
Any vacancies to run for office can be filled by the respective parties next week.
Candidates for House of Representative who filed in their town or city, will be sent to the Secretary of State’s Office in Concord by next Wednesday and should be posted online by next Thursday, officials said.
FOR GOVERNOR
Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, is not seeking another term. but there are a number of Republicans running for that nomination. In addition to Ayotte and Morse, the ballot will include Frank Negus Staples, Richard A. McMenamon II, Shaun Fife and Robert Wayne McClory.
FOR CONGRESS DISTRICT 1
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-NH, has filed and will run in the primary against Kevin Rondeau.
Running for Representative in Congress for District 1 are Republicans Chris Bright, Andy Martin, Hollie Noveletsky, Russell Prescott and expected late entries, Joe Kelly Levasseur, Max Abramson, and Walter J. McFarlane, III.
FOR CONGRESS DISTRICT 2
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, is not running for re-election.
For Congress for District 2, there are two Democrats, Maggie Goodlander and Colin Van Ostern.
Republicans seeking that job are Tom Alciere, Gerard Beloin, Robert D’Arcy, Bill Hamlen, Vikram Mansharamani, Jay Mercer, Jason Riddle, Lily Tang Williams, Paul Wagner, Michael Anthony Callis, Randall Clark, Casey Crane, and William Harvey.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The five-member Executive Council seats are all up for grabs. Warmington, the only Democrat, is running for governor, not running for re-election to the Council, nor is Councilor Ted Gatsas, a Republican from Manchester, who indicated he is retiring from decades in politics. The three other incumbents are running.
In District 1 incumbent Joe Kenney, R- Wakefield, is unopposed in the primary and will be challenged by Democrat Emmett Soldati of Somersworth in the general election.
In District 2, being vacated by Warmington, Democrats Karen Liot Hill and Michael Liberty of New London will face off in a primary. Mary Rose Deak of Concord or Kim Strathdee of Plymouth are running as Republicans for the District 2 seat.
In District 3, a Democrat has filed to run against incumbent Janet Steven of Rye in the November election. Jon Morgan of Brentwood, a former State Senator filed on Friday.
For the District 4 race being vacated by Gatsas, there are six Republicans running including Terese Bastarache of Loudon, Robert Burns of Manchester, John Reagan of Deerfield, John Stephen of Manchester, Ryan Terrell of Lee and Ross W. Terrio of Manchester. Jim O’Connell of Manchester is running unopposed for that office in the Democratic primary.
In District 5, Shoshanna Kelly of Nashua has filed as a Democrat to run along with former state Senator Melanie Levesque of Brookline. The winner will face incumbent David Wheeler, a Republican.
FOR STATE SENATE
There are 24 seats which are all being vacated at the end of 2024. Most of the incumbents are running for re-election with a few exceptions.
State Sen. Carrie Gendreau, R-Littleton, did not file for re-election for District 1, nor did state Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, for District 15, state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro for District 20, D-Manchester, and State Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, for District 3.
All 20 other incumbent Senators filed for re-election.
Filing on the Democratic side for District 1 is Rusty Talbot of Sugar Hill who will run against David Rochefort of Littleton, a Republican in the general election.
District 2, Carlos Cardona of Laconia is challenging incumbent Sen. Tim Lang, R- Sanbornton.
In District 3, Bill Marsh of Brookfield is seeking an open seat vacated by Jeb Bradley and will be challenged by Mark McConkey of Freedom.
In District 4, incumbent David Watters, D-Dover will be challenged by Shawn Mickelonis of Dover, a Republican.
In District 5, Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, will face Republican John McIntyre of Hanover in the general election.
In District 6, John Ceskavich of Strafford will be challenging incumbent Sen. James Gray, R-Rochester.
In District 7, Stu Green of Andover, a Democrat, will challenge state Sen. Dan Innis, R-Bradford.
In District 8, incumbent Ruth Ward, a Republican from Stoddard will face David Trumble of Weare in the general election.
In District 9, Matthew McLaughlin of Bedford will face incumbent Republican Denise Ricciardi.
In District 10 Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, is being challenged by Republican Rick Mertk of Westmoreland in the general election.
In District 11 incumbent Shannon Chandley, D-Amherst, will be challenged by Republican Tim McGough of Merrimack.
In District 12 Ben Ming of Hollis, a Democrat, will challenge state Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua.
In District 13, State Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, will face Republican Stephen Scaer of Nashua in the general election.
In District 14 Kara Roy of Hudson will challenge the Senate Majority Leader Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry.
In District 15 Rebecca McWilliams of Concord, Tara Reardon of Concord and Angela Brennan of Bow, all Democrats, will face off for their party’s nomination. The winner of that race will face Republican Pamela Ean of Concord.
In District 16, State Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, is currently unopposed, but the Democratic party can still field a candidate.
The same is true for District 17, Republican Howard Pearl of Loudon who has no primary opponent.
In District 18, Senate Minority Leader Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, is being challenged by Victoria Sullivan of Manchester, a Republican in the general election.
In District 19, State Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, has no primary opponent nor general election opponent to date.
In District 20, Rep. Pat Long and Sean Parr, both of Manchester are Democrats hoping to fill the vacancy by D’Allesandro. Also filing as of Friday as Republican for District 20 was Brittany Ping of Manchester.
In District 21, State Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth is currently unopposed in either the primary or the general election but that can change through a Republican party filing by next Wednesday.
In District 22 Republican Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem will be challenged in the general election by Democrat Wayne Haubner of Salem who filed Friday.
On the Republican side District 23 is the only incumbent Senator to face a primary. Bill Gannon of Sandown is facing a primary against Emily Phillips of Fremont.
In District 24, State Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, will be challenged in the general election by Republican Pat Abrami of Stratham.
D’Allesandro and Bradley announced earlier that they would not be seeking re-election and Whitley had initially indicated she was going to run for Congress in the Second Congressional District to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, but withdrew from the field for that seat and decided not to run for re-election.
Gendreau, who had also been a Littleton Selectmen, did not file to run for re-election. She faced criticism for her position on public art in Littleton which supported the LGBTQ+ community based on her religious faith. See this link https://indepthnh.org/2023/09/12/sen-gendreau-littleton-mural-comments-prompts-criticism-everyone-belongs-signs-spring-up/.
David Rochefort of Littleton has filed to run as a Republican for the District 1 State Senate seat.
FOR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES
With 400 seats available to be filled for the next two years, Town and City Clerks across the state were receiving applications for office, with the Friday deadline as well. However, the Secretary of State’s website has listings as of Thursday for 266 Republicans and 180 Democrats looking to either return to their House seats or be elected.
JON STONE IS RUNNING AGAIN FOR STATE REP
One controversial candidate did file for re-election in Claremont, officials there confirmed. Jon Stone is running for another term for state Representative as a Republican for Sullivan County District 8.
Stone’s career as a police officer ended after he threatened a mass shooting and threatened to rape the police chief’s wife https://indepthnh.org/2024/04/05/documents-rep-jon-stone-threatened-mass-shooting-and-rape-after-investigation/
JASON GERHARD TO RUN FOR MERRIMACK COUNTY SHERIFF
State Rep. Jason Gerhard, R-Northfield, did not file for re-election in Northfield by the 5 p.m. deadline. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his actions in 2008 to help anti-government tax evaders, Ed and Elaine Brown, in an Upper Valley standoff with federal agents. Instead, Gerhard is running for Merrimack County Sheriff and has a primary with Frank T. Cassidy on the Republican side. The winner will face incumbent Sheriff David Croft on the Democratic side in the primary.
Gerhard sponsored 33 bills https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/member.aspx?pid=10681 that were largely rejected including one to have the state declare independence from the United States, restoring firearm ownership rights to ex-felons, and one relative to duties of county sheriffs and the appointment of special deputy sheriffs.
One that did pass was relative to vehicles held in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship and another was renaming Route 127 from Central Street in Franklin to the town line of Sanbornton as Chief Bradley Haas Memorial Highway.
COUNTY OFFICES
In addition to Gerhard, filings were made for county sheriff, treasurer, register of deeds, register of probate and county commissioners in all of the counties with several contested primaries.
A LATE FILING WITH A DECLARATION OF INTENT
The last of the 10-day filing period included some political unknowns including Edmond Laplante who filed his declaration of intent to be a candidate for governor on the Constitution Party of New Hampshire.
He needs to get signatures to get on the ballot and said he thinks he can do it because there is a lot of interest in a third party candidate.
Dressed in Constitutional era garb including breeches and a frock coat, but no powdered wig, Laplante is a Marine Corps veteran and an auto mechanic.
“It should be a government for the people,” he said.