Keene City Councilor Williams running for N.H. Senate

Jun. 9—Democratic Keene City Councilor Bobby Williams announced Thursday in a city park that he is running to succeed Jay Kahn in the N.H. Senate, saying his goals will be to protect the environment, fight homelessness, reduce gun violence and help families.

Kahn, a Democrat, has decided not to seek re-election, and Rep. Donovan Fenton, of Keene, vice president of Fenton Family Dealerships in Swanzey, announced last month that he would also run for that seat.

"We can support families through lower-cost housing and better wages for workers, including raising the minimum wage," said Williams, a software developer. "We can support families by providing better and more direct support to child care providers and adult day care providers."

Williams, 45, said the problem of climate change needs to be addressed and promised he would be "an environmental bulldog."

He also promised that he would work to protect groups that have come under attack and urged others to do the same.

"We need to stand up for immigrants when they are scapegoated, we need to stand up for gay and trans people when they get targeted, we need to stand up for teachers when they get vilified," he said.

He said Black people who are treated unfairly by the criminal justice system are in need of protection as are mistreated and underpaid workers, homeless people without a place to go and women in danger of losing reproductive rights.

Williams said the nation has undergone trauma through years of political turmoil under the Trump administration as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and this has led a lot of people to become irrational and hostile.

"What people need most of all is hope," he said. "We have to build hope. We do that by working together."

Williams said that as a Ward 2 city councilor he has identified problems and sought for solutions from improving sidewalks to make them handicap accessible to addressing the problem of homelessness.

"I'm known for my leadership on technology-related topics," he said. "Keene was the first city in New Hampshire to put some regulations on the placement of 5G small cellular base stations and that was my idea."

He said that before he came to Keene he worked for seven years at the United Nations on recovery from natural disaster and arms treaties. If elected to the state Senate, Williams said he would resign from his city council seat, which runs through 2023.

Democratic Rep. Amanda Elizabeth Toll, of Keene, who was also at the event in Fuller Park, said she considered running for Kahn's seat in the 10th district but decided against it and instead will be running for re-election to the House. She endorsed Williams, saying he will be a progressive champion.

"I thought about doing it myself, but with a baby on the way, decided this was not the right time," Toll said.

Toll was the prime sponsor this year of a proposed constitutional amendment, CACR 18, to prohibit state and local governments from infringing on the right of people to make personal reproductive medical decisions.

The House tabled the measure on a 175-157 partisan vote and refused to reconsider it in early May after Politico reported a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion.

Toll was also the prime sponsor on House Bill 1533 to require public education about consent, a measure that she said would help reduce sexual violence. It was defeated in a voice vote in the House on March 15.

She represents Cheshire County District 16 in the House, an at-large seat for Keene. Because of redistricting, she is now running for District 15, which takes in Keene wards 1,3,4,5, Surry, Walpole and Westmoreland.

She said her personal story has informed her political life.

Toll has been open about getting an abortion as a teenager. On Thursday, she related another experience.

"As an adult I was physically abused and sexually assaulted but feared leaving the relationship because of child custody concerns," she said. "My experiences are the experiences of many Granite Staters but I also recognize that I had significant privilege in dealing with these challenges."

She said she had personal resources that helped her deal with these challenges.

"If it was hard for me to navigate them I can only imagine how challenging it is if you have no money, don't speak English, are transgender or non-binary or are petrified to engage in the system because of the color of your skin."

As of Thursday, Republicans Ian Freeman of Keene and Sly Karasinski of Swanzey had also filed to run for Senate District 10. In Cheshire House District 15, incumbent Democrat Paul Berch of Westmoreland, along with Republicans Malia Boaz of Westmoreland and Joseph Mirzoeff and John Schmitt, both of Keene, had filed.

Rick Green can be reached at RGreen@KeeneSentinel.com or 603-355-8567