Election 2022: Durham has 8 candidates vying for 4 Strafford District 10 House seats
Durham voters have eight candidates to choose from for four Strafford County District 10 seats representing the town in the New Hampshire House.
The Democrats in the race are incumbent state Reps. Cam Kenney, Marjorie Smith and Timothy Horrigan, along with newcomer Loren Selig. The Republican challengers are Bonnie McDermott, Jennifer Betts Olszewski, Tyanne Sylvestre and Clifford E. Zetterstrom.
Here's a look at the candidates who responded to our candidate survey:
Cam Kenney
Hometown: Durham
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and placed the power to regulate abortion with the states. What should state lawmakers do regarding abortion laws?
As a member of the House of Representatives, I have prioritized protecting reproductive justice, and ensuring one has power to control their own body. We have seen countless attacks, even before the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. I serve on the Judiciary Committee, which gets assigned a majority of bills regarding reproduction. If reelected, I expect our committee to see an increase in these attacks. Therefore, we should prioritize codifying reproductive rights into law, and strive to make sure bodily autonomy remains a priority. It is clear that a majority of Granite Staters support reproductive justice, so I hope all legislators listen to their constituents and work on protecting these rights.
The state's residents and businesses face many economic challenges, including high prices for electricity and fuel, a labor shortage, a lack of affordable housing and rising prices due to inflation. How would you address these challenges?
Over the course of last session, I worked on and prioritized bills to increase access to housing and ensure it was affordable. One bill pertained to notification requirements when a landlord was increasing rent. We heard testimony from Granite Staters who were given 30 days notice before their rent would increase egregiously, as high as $600 dollars. This forces people to try and pay the unreasonable increase, or try to find another option, which is not easy with the current shortage. Also, I introduced a bill that landlords could not discriminate for the sole purpose of one having a Section 8 voucher, a law every other state in New England has. People are on waiting lists for 6-9 years, and have 60-90 days to secure housing, or they lose the voucher. This is impossible with a good amount of landlords not even accepting applications. The cost of electricity is incredibly high. Last term, we saw bills voted against or tabled (to avoid even a discussion) that would focus on energy efficiency by the Republican Majority. Democrats need to take back the majority, and elect a governor to sign affordable housing and energy efficiency bills into law.
What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?
I am 26 years old, running for my third term. I am currently a second year law student at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. I have served as Legislative Director and Vice Chairman of the Young Democrats Caucus, where we prioritized legislation to combat climate change, protect reproductive justice and voting rights, increasing access to affordable housing and healthcare, and comprehensive gun reform.
Loren Selig
Hometown: Durham
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and placed the power to regulate abortion with the states. What should state lawmakers do regarding abortion laws?
Decisions about abortion, as with all medical decisions, should be made by a patient and their medical practitioner without outside interference. The anti-choice movement has been pushing a specific religious agenda in their justification for preventing women from having the right to make their own medical decisions. However, our government is based upon a separation of church from state and those specific religious actions infringe upon all women's rights, not just those of that particular religion. New Hampshire should codify the right to an abortion within our constitution to ensure that all people have the right to control their own medical decisions.
The state's residents and businesses face many economic challenges, including high prices for electricity and fuel, a labor shortage, a lack of affordable housing and rising prices due to inflation. How would you address these challenges?
This question leads with a conclusion that all of these increased costs are due to inflation. However, the question disregards the actions of Governor Sununu and other Republican lawmakers to give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest residents of our state as well as the extreme costs of funding a school voucher program that bleeds our public education resources to support wealthy students in private and parochial schools. The reality is these are complex issues that need multifaceted responses. We need to restructure our state's finances to provide more equity in the way taxes are raised, support for renewable energy sources, and affordable housing. One significant reason for our labor shortage is the very high cost of housing. By finding creative solutions to make housing more affordable, we can increase our labor pool.
What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?
In the summer of 2004, I met my husband at a retreat. After a whirlwind romance, we eloped that September and I moved to Durham. Since relocating, I have worked at UNH supervising graduate students who were becoming teachers (I was laid off during the year UNH's budget was cut by 50%), at Avis Goodwin Community Health Center as a volunteer coordinator/event planner/and fundraiser, and as a real estate agent with Arthur Thomas Properties in Dover. These combined experiences have led me to have a greater passion for public education, the critical importance of access to all types of health care from medical and dental to mental health and an awareness of the challenges of housing shortages combined with extremely high costs of living. As a parent of two teenagers, I have volunteered in the schools, and been an advocate for high quality education and school safety. When plans for a new middle school were being drawn, I pushed the school board to focus on school safety. After discussions about lock-down drills and ALICE (Active shooter drills) with my children, I doubled down on my passion of fighting for smart gun control laws and access to mental health care. Additionally, I have always been and continue to be an advocate for equal rights, supporting Black Lives Matter, the AAPI community, Indigenous Rights, LGBTQIA rights, and for giving Free Mom Hugs. I will bring these passions and skills to the State House and look forward to serving Durham and the people of NH.
Marjorie Smith
Hometown: Durham
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and placed the power to regulate abortion with the states. What should state lawmakers do regarding abortion laws?
The next legislature has two immediate responsibilities. One is to reverse the irresponsible actions taken by the governor and Republican legislators to ignore the stated wishes to more than two-thirds of New Hampshire citizens. Although no public money is used for abortions, the Republican controlled legislature inserted in the budget bill the first anti-abortion measure that New Hampshire has enacted. The legislators and the governor inserted themselves into the private, personal decisions that should be made by the patient and the doctor. They required an intrusive medical procedure without regard to the medical needs of the patient and the professional judgment of the doctor. While we have been able to modify the effects of this section of the budget bill, there still remains language that not only violates appropriate medical procedure, but opens up the possibility to charge doctors with felonies just by dong their jobs. The governor claims to be pro-choice, but appeared on national television to boast that he passed the first anti-abortion in New Hampshire history. The second initial action is to put into state law the protections that the US Supreme Court compromised by reversing the settled law of Row v. Wade. Also, we have to protect access to sex education that has played a significant role in reducing unwanted pregnancies, and we have to support efforts to make sure that family planning and health related programs can continue.
The state's residents and businesses face many economic challenges, including high prices for electricity and fuel, a labor shortage, a lack of affordable housing and rising prices due to inflation. How would you address these challenges?
Many of these challenges are national and require national solutions, but there is much that the state can do - changes that will be possible only with new leadership. The governor has consistently opposed legislation that would help the state move from a dependence on fossil fuels. Under Democratic leadership in the house, we passed a series of bills to develop alternative energy sources and to address the climate crisis we face, but they have been consistently stopped by the governor who, perhaps not coincidentally, receives major campaign donations from energy companies.
What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?
Running for my thirteenth term, I believe that the role of the state legislature is increasingly essential as we are less able to look to the US Supreme Court to protect civil rights and liberties. In recent years the legislature has been invaded by a group that does not believe in government. With the cooperation of the governor, they have passed legislation that redirects public education funds to non-public alternatives that operate without standards or accountability. They have weakened or eliminated any reasonable efforts to promote gun safety. They have challenged New Hampshire’s long established respect for personal privacy and reproductive rights. They do not recognize the climate crisis, nor do they believe that the government has a role in protecting the environment. As ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, working with my colleagues, we were able to protect principles of transparency in government and address difficult landlord-tenant issues. I have chaired the House Finance and Fiscal Committees as well as the House Judiciary Committee, and served on the Public Higher Education Advisory Committee and the board of trustees of the University System of New Hampshire. I chair public policy for the NH House Democratic caucus. I was the first chair of the board of the New Hampshire Women’s Policy Institute (NHWPI). I earned the degree of master of public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Timothy Horrigan
Hometown: Durham
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and placed the power to regulate abortion with the states. What should state lawmakers do regarding abortion laws?
Ideally, the right to choose should be guaranteed at the federal level, and abortion should be an allowable form of health care. Leaving this issue to the states has created chaos, and the chaos will only get worse. That said, I support putting the protections from Roe vs. Wade into state law, including both statute and the state constitution. In 2020, I cosponsored CACR 14 (2020) which would have prevented the state from infringing or unduly inconveniencing the right of reproductive medical decisions. In a rare display of bipartisanship by the leadership of both parties, this proposed amendment sadly was killed. The rationales for the Democrats' opposition to CACR 14 was that it was not needed since Roe vs. Wade was supposedly established law. We all know what has since happened to Roe vs. Wade. The wording of that particular amendment was not necessarily perfect, but it is imperative that we pass something similar.
The state's residents and businesses face many economic challenges, including high prices for electricity and fuel, a labor shortage, a lack of affordable housing and rising prices due to inflation. How would you address these challenges?
The wording of the last part of the question is a little misleading since by definition inflation is synonymous with rising prices. The current inflation is painful, but wages have been going up, as have asset values, and the average person is in fact better off than in the past. I still support efforts to raise wages and salaries, beginning with replacing the minimum wage with a living wage. Some of the current inflation is the backlash from the deflation of the pandemic years (which actually began before the pandemic.) I am hopeful that things will get back to normal soon. The labor shortage can be addressed by enhancing job training opportunities and by finding ways to encourage employers to more effectively utilize the existing work force. We also need to expand the work force, but that is difficult when there is no affordable housing available. The only long-term solution to energy prices is to use more renewable energy and use it more efficiently. Fossil fuels have their place, but the supply of fossil fuels is finite, and we also cannot afford to let atmospheric CO2 levels go any higher than they are already,
What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?
I grew up in Durham and it is an honor to represent my old home town in Concord. Two issues not mentioned in the questionnaire which I expect to be working on in 2023-2024 are voting rights and (a somewhat simpler issue) school meals, For the past couple of years, thanks to federal funding which expired very recently, breakfast and lunch have been provided at no cost to every public school student. This was a popular— and relatively inexpensive— program which proved to be much more fair and much more efficient than the old system. I favor restoring this program, even if we have to expend state money to do so.
Editor's note: Seacoast Media Group made a good-faith effort to distribute our candidate questionnaire to all candidates. We will add any missing candidate questionnaires when they are received. If any candidates have questions or need information on how to be included, please email news@seacoastonline.com or news@fosters.com with "candidate questionnaire" in the subject line.
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Election 2022: Durham has 8 candidates in Strafford County District 10
