By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
WOLFEBORO – Newly elected to a House seat in a special election here last week, Democrat Bobbi Boudman said she is looking forward to heading to Concord to represent Wolfeboro, Ossipee and Tuftonboro with a focus on local issues and concerns.
She said she is hearing that her victory in this Republican stronghold District 7 is being seen as “a referendum on Jason Osborne.”
The House Majority leader, a Republican from Auburn, did not respond to an email request for comment nor did Eric Brakey, who heads the Free State Project in New Hampshire.
At least one Republican who represents her district on the Executive Council, Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, said her win was not so much about Osborne, the Republican party and many of its libertarian and Free State members in the House, but said he thought the victory was more about the fact that Boudman is well-known in Wolfeboro.
He said she and her husband raised children there and were well-known in the schools.
Having tried twice before to get elected to the House seat for District 7, the fact that the Republican opponent was a newcomer from Tuftonboro was a key reason for his loss, Kenney said.
She took her home town of Wolfeboro and narrowly lost in Republican dominated Tuftonboro and Ossipee in the special election a week ago to replace Republican Glenn Cordelli who moved to Texas. But overall, she won by about 2.5 percent. The vote was Boudman 2,207 to Dale Fincher 2,042 according to the Secretary of State. A recount was not requested.
Fincher posted on social media after his loss. “Big thanks to all my supporters and the local support. We put in our best effort but couldn’t come up with the numbers.
“Liberty and goodness lives on with all of us. The work continues,” Fincher wrote.
The Conway Daily Sun had previously reported Fincher was supported by Cordelli as well as Seamas Oscalaidhe of the Free State Project.
Boudman knocked on doors and sent 2,700 Valentine post cards in February with volunteer supporters.
They were likely outspent three to one by the Republican party.
While the final numbers have not been reported, Republicans invested more than $65,000 for the seat.
Boudman, with a background in finance and recreation, is expected to be sworn in by Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte when the Executive Council next meets on March 25.
She currently has no assigned committee, a call of the House Minority Leader. Boudman said she feels that she might most be effective at the committee level rather than being a single vote in 400 and she plans to run in the fall for the full, two-year term.
The election got national attention with Democrats hoping it is a good omen ahead of the midterm elections in November and Republicans wondering how that one safe seat got away.
Boudman said she does not have data to support it, but believes many Republicans voted to support her candidacy this time around and many have told her they did not like the campaign tactics against her by Osborne and others.
She said the region is facing a case of “artificial inflation” in property values and Gov. Ayotte’s campaign motto of “Don’t Mass Up” New Hampshire is a bit ironic as all the people who can’t afford to live here are having to leave and their now expensive properties are being snatched up by Bay Staters.
In just the past few years she said she is seeing property values skyrocket and the selling and transfer of generational wealth driving Granite Staters out and Massachusetts residents in.
She said the state has downshifted costs to the local communities “forcing us out,” and she hopes to work on local concerns like that in Concord. If a community gives a big box store a tax break “we have to make it up,” she said of the residential taxpayers.
For her, it has been really a “slow, five and a half years run,” to get to the State House after being defeated by Cordelli twice before.
She said she kept learning about Cordelli’s voting record from supporting school vouchers to the divisive concepts bill and started attending Cornerstone PAC meetings, was shocked and found herself saying, “I have to run again,” to fight against that agenda.
This time is “about being local” and listening to concerns including Ossipee’s recent loss of $1 million in state adequacy aid.
“They see it directly,” she said, telling her they get it that there is a correlation between the adequacy aid and unlimited school vouchers, which she believes was a factor in the race.
Boudman noted she has been off social media since the election but found her inbox stuffed with more than 8,000 messages.
“It’s been a little overwhelming,” she said. Boudman has largely ignored the national aspects of the win and said she has Executive Councilor Kenney “on speed dial,” asking questions of him about Concord.
On Monday, Kenney said he is always happy to help out anyone who is new coming to Concord, regardless of political party and that Boudman represents his constituents, now, as well.
But he distanced any interpretation that the win was a repudiation of what Osborne stands for and the Free State Project.
Not all agree.
In her Substack article March 14, state Rep. Anita Burroughs, D-Glen, wrote while some nationally and internationally framed the election result as a referendum on Donald Trump “many Democratic leaders in New Hampshire, believe the outcome reflects something happening closer to home: growing frustration with the direction of leadership in the New Hampshire House.
“Critics argue that policies pushed by House leadership under Majority Leader Jason Osborne, along with the influence of the Free State Movement, have weakened public education, chipped away at local control, and too often prioritized corporate interests and the wealthy over the needs of our communities.
“Bobbi Boudman’s victory does not change control of the New Hampshire House. Republicans currently hold roughly 215 seats to Democrats’ 177, though those numbers shift from time to time with resignations and special elections.
“But from my seat in the House, I can tell you that special elections like this get everyone’s attention very quickly. When a district that recently elected a Republican by double digits suddenly flips, legislators in both parties start asking the same question: what happened there?
“Boudman ran a campaign focused on issues that matter to voters in both parties: affordability, strong public schools, and fiscal responsibility. Her message clearly resonated.
“Bobbi Boudman’s victory is a reminder that a strong candidate, running on issues voters care about, can defy the odds and turn political forecasts on their head,” Burroughs said.
Boudman said she is grounded in the issues facing her three communities which she will represent and her message is ‘let’s all get along again.'”