Incumbent Democratic state Reps. Jaci Grote (Rye) and Dennis Malloy (Greenland) are being challenged by Republicans Wendy Stanley Jones (Greenland) and Marilyn Page (Greenland) in Rockingham County District 24 for two New Hampshire House seats representing Greenland and Rye in the Nov. 8, 2022 election.

Jaci Grote

Hometown: Rye

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?

Until this year, Granite Staters have had reproductive freedom, and our state supported the Roe decision. The Roe decision recognized that the due process clause in the Constitution protects a person’s private decision to terminate their pregnancy and rendered state abortion bans unconstitutional. NH’s culture of personal freedom and right to privacy has always left this decision to women in conjunction with their doctors, who can choose to seek guidance from their families, ministers, and other supports. However, even before the Dobbs decision, the NH House attempted to reduce that freedom last year. The bills introduced in the NH House limited not only abortion but prevented abortions in the cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancy complications. It criminalized doctors and mandated ultrasounds for anyone wanting an abortion. It forced women whose babies had neo-fatal anomalies to keep them alive until they died. A majority of NH constituents do not support this legislation. I would recommend and support that the NH statute returns to its values of trusting women and doctors in making these critical and emotionally challenging 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?

Legislation directly addressing inflation cannot be created at the state level - the free market and global economic reality. That being said, NH had the opportunity to address issues that amplified the effects on electricity costs, affordable housing, and workforce retention. Attempts to address these issues have been met with resistance on the local and state level. NH's use of costly electricity options, including the Seabrook nuclear plant and natural gas-powered plants, increases the total cost. Municipalities are blocked from reducing electricity costs via the net-metering maximum and are unable to work jointly to install a grid on town land. These restrictions must be eliminated to allow municipalities freedom to decide how to address electricity costs at a local level, but efforts to do so have been vetoed by the governor. Affordable housing is a local/state issue, and legislation could expand options for affordable housing without interfering with local decisions. This session, a bill was introduced to allow multi-family units in a municipality with the same requirements as single-family homes. This bill failed; however, the House should continue exploring the issue to find a solution. NH can legislate to address workforce retention and bring mobility to our workforce. Work is underway to explore how to address workforce retention, reviewing licensing requirements for professionals in NH and finding effective ways to reciprocate licensing with other state.

What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?

I have served two terms in the NH House and both terms was a member of the Executive Departments and Administration Committee that addresses legislation effecting state agencies, licensing, state building codes and the New Hampshire Retirement System. Since joining the NH House I have been appointed to two committees and one commission. I sit on the study committee to review the hurdles in licensing for mental health professionals and chair the seacoast safe drinking water commission that is looking at the challenges for our water utilities in light on the increasing drought and tightening of contaminants such as lead, arsenic and PSFAs. I continue to serve as an elected member on the Rye Budget Committee and an appointed member of the Rye Conservation Commission. This is meaningful work and I ask for your vote on Nov. 8.

Dennis Malloy

Hometown: Greenland

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 should vote to repeal Gov. Sununu’s dangerous law that interferes with the professional medical relationship with the patient. The governor and Executive Council have consistently voted in favor of anti-choice decisions and the 24-week abortion ban that was signed into law which actively threatens doctors who provide obstetrical care across New Hampshire. NH should join with the five other New England states that protect women by providing access to reproductive healthcare. The decision to end a pregnancy under any circumstance is deeply personal and should be made with the guidance of trained health care professionals who understand the complicated circumstances under which this decision is made. The woman, her family, her faith and licensed health care professionals who are medically trained to safely conduct the procedure are the people and the circumstances which must be considered in making this decision. Punitive abortion bans that criminalize both the patient and the doctor for agreeing to and performing a medical procedure that may be necessary to save the life of the mother as well as her overall mental and physical health should be repealed.

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?

Effective measures including net metering, combating climate change, microgrids, the utility rate structure, renewable and clean energy, renewable portfolio standards and sustainable energy efficiency projects have been ignored or vetoed. Quality K-12 public education, and an affordable higher education system will produce a strong labor pool. However, growing the population in key labor rich age groups can have a more immediate effect on meeting a labor shortage. The economy has grown and improved when it has attracted people who possessed the education and skills to compete. The Pease Development Authority, the ARMI tissue regenerative program in Manchester and lowering the cost of steel allowing NH fabricators to use American made steel were initiatives that grow the labor force. Tax credits, development authorities and educational opportunities can be supported. Planned economic growth and a productive educated workforce can hold the line on inflation. The Business and Industry Association (BIA), the NH Municipal Association and the Municipal and County Government Committee codified guidelines that provided municipalities considerable leeway on how to manage the affordable housing shortage. However, stronger enforcement of these planning and zoning laws may be needed to encourage towns to consider affordable housing needs.

What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?

As a selectman, trustee of trust funds and a state legislator I believe in public service and have been fortunate to serve on non-profit boards and state commissions. Providing funding for public K-12 education and controlling the costs of secondary education is a priority. Our university students are graduating with some of the highest college debt in the country, while NH is at the bottom of states supporting secondary education. Manufactured PFAS & PFOA chemicals must be cleaned up so that future generations are not subjected to potential health hazards and to preserve clean drinking water in this state. We must continue to prevent the state legislature from forcing towns and cities to absorb certain portions of state pensions for qualified public employees. State revenues have historically covered public employee pensions, but when the state decides not to, that cost is shifted to property taxpayers. Equitable distribution of highway block grant money and rooms and meals taxes are also important for property tax relief. I am proud to have served the state of NH for two decades and I thank you for your support and encouragement in protecting NH’s natural resources, fighting to support our teachers and schools and preventing property taxpayers from being unfairly burdened. More information about me and my background is available at www.dennismalloy.com.

Wendy Stanley Jones

Hometown: Greenland

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?

I have been a nurse for over 30 years. I have worked in schools, youth camps, and community health centers. I am very aware and sensitive to the difficulties surrounding the decision to have an abortion. It is a decision of great care, with many reasons and circumstances. This decision can be the only one available, due to life threatening circumstances. They are often agonizing decisions, better left to the woman, her doctor, and any family or spiritual advisors she wishes to consult. Equally concerning is the idea, now being promoted by those who fought for a complete ban on abortion, that birth control is also a type of abortion. Nothing, clinically, could be further from the truth. In our “Live Free or Die” state I would suggest that all health care decisions are individual decisions. I am not for limiting the access to medical care for anyone in New Hampshire. We only have healthy communities when we have healthy families, who have access to affordable health care.

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?

Liquid natural gas can’t be shipped to New Hampshire due to the Jones Act. Given the high use of liquid natural gas for our electricity and heat production, I would encourage the NH Legislators to create a collaborative committee to work with other legislators in New England to request a suspension of the Jones Act to allow affordable fuel to be supplied here. We must join in backing Governor Sununu in this request to DC. From there we need an "all of the above" approach. Solar, wind, electric and nuclear power are needed. I would not support going backwards to use biomass that cost us $2 billion in subsidies since the 1970’s. We need to look forward, in a manageable way to better serve our communities. We need to continue the success of the 30% decrease in business taxes to small businesses and eliminate the interest and dividend tax. More money in the small business’ budget allows them to increase wages while supporting affordable housing. Innovative Republican thinking has also given us a $258 million surplus into our rainy-day fund, $100 million decrease in NH state property taxes, $100 million in state aid to our public schools, $12.65 million in funding for our towns be able to repair or replace water treatment systems or associated water and sewer lines. We need to continue to make smart economic decisions to cut costs for everyone in New Hampshire.

What else do you want voters to know about you or your policy positions before the election on Nov. 8?

In addition to being a nurse, I am a wife, mother and grandmother. I have served on the Seacoast Cancer Commission from its inception in 2017 to its conclusion in 2022. While there, I worked to help the state set standards for PFAS contamination remediation. I have been on the New Hampshire Board of Nursing for 5 years, keeping our health care communities safe. More importantly, I have been a volunteer with many organizations and within our church, working side-by-side with my neighbors helping our communities. I look forward to bringing my experience to Concord, while stopping sales taxes and income taxes, eliminating interest and dividend taxes, and stopping any increases of taxes to our small businesses. If you want someone with a fresh set of eyes to continue with compassionate conservatism, understanding the importance of collaboration, then vote for me.

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 Portsmouth Herald: NH election 2022: Grote, Malloy face Jones, Page in Greenland, Rye