Sherman brings gubernatorial campaign to Keene

Aug. 9—N.H. Sen. Tom Sherman brought his Democratic campaign for governor to the Monadnock Region on Monday, meeting with local people and stressing the need to protect reproductive rights, boost public education and increase the supply of housing.

Among several local stops, Sherman drove with state Sen. Jay Kahn, D-Keene, to the Monadnock Food Co-op, where General Manager Michael Faber provided a tour of the grocery store.

The Rye physician has been campaigning across the state and trying to gain ground on three-term Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. A poll sponsored by Sherman's campaign of 601 registered voters on July 5-6 showed him trailing the governor by 10 percentage points.

As the two-term state senator seeks to shrink that gap, he is mindful that the abortion issue can be politically powerful.

Last week, voters in largely conservative Kansas soundly rejected an attempt to remove abortion rights from that state's constitution. Kansans responded to a campaign stressing freedom and personal rights.

Sherman uses similar arguments when he talks about the issue.

In an interview with The Sentinel at the Co-op he noted that this is the "Live Free or Die State," and said some Granite State residents who oppose abortion also feel the state shouldn't dictate what a woman can and can't do with her own body.

"I have been an advocate, principally, for a woman being able to make her own health care decision without state interference," he said.

"As a doctor, that relationship between any patient and their doctor is so intensely personal and private, so any intrusion into that relationship in my book is not the role of the state."

Last year, Sununu signed a bill that prohibits most abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, required an ultrasound before the procedure and made no exceptions for rape, incest or fetal anomalies. The only exception was for pregnancies that threaten the mother's life or health.

In the most recent legislative session, Sununu signed another piece of legislation that eases the ultrasound requirement and makes an exception for fatal fetal anomalies.

Sherman said more abortion restrictions may be in store from the Republican-led Legislature now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled there is no constitutional protection for the procedure, leaving the issue up to states.

For his part, Sununu has said he believes in women having the right to get an abortion and will protect that right.

"Like most Granite Staters, I don't live in extremes on either side of the issue," he said in a written statement in January. "I am pro-choice, but also like most Granite Staters — and Americans — I support a limit on abortions performed in months 7, 8, and 9 of pregnancy."

Other issues that Sherman is stressing on the campaign trail involve public education and housing.

He objects to a bill passed in the Legislature last year and signed by the governor that prohibits the teaching of some concepts related to racial discrimination. Sherman said the measure amounts to an attack on teachers.

He also said public schools are not getting adequate financial support.

Sherman also criticized Republican-backed "school choice," or school voucher programs, which allow public money to be spent on private and religious schools.

"We know that that [the school voucher system] is going to drive up property taxes because it's taking money out of the schools while not doing anything to cover the overhead schools still have," he said.

"Everywhere I've gone, people feel their public schools are the core of their community. Every single stop I make, and I've been all over the state, people want to be sure that no matter where you live, their child can get a great public education."

Sherman also touted his plan to boost housing in the state. It would cut local government red tape, improve zoning regulations, help with infrastructure, expand loan and tax-credit programs and train people in construction trades.

Adequate housing is the key to having a sufficient workforce for New Hampshire businesses, he said.

"If we had that capacity [to provide more workforce housing], then our businesses would soar," he said.

His plan would cost $35 million, to be funded out of the state's more than $400 million budget surplus and that would be in addition to Sununu's $100 million housing plan, which relies on federal pandemic relief money.

The governor's proposal would, among other things, create a fund to close funding gaps for affordable multifamily housing projects.

Sherman's swing through the Monadnock Region included scheduled stops at the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene and at a "meet and greet" with several other Democratic candidates in Swanzey.

Sherman is the lone Democratic candidate for governor, while Sununu faces several Republican challengers in the Sept. 13 primary. The general election is on Nov. 8.

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