ideas to move new hampshire forward

To get detailed sets of ideas and policies on a number of issues that matter to the future of our state and its people, click on the "Issues" tab at the top of this page, or on the various links below.

1. Education - and how we fund it

New Hampshire's mission statement for the next generation should be: We will be the best state in America to start and raise a family, and start and grow a business. Many policies matter, but all evidence shows the dominant factor which will determine communities' ability to meet this mission is the quality of local public education. From pre-K to higher ed, New Hampshire must deliver America's best educational outcomes, funded sustainably and fairly, and available irrespective of the wealth of your town or household. It means challenging where the goalposts of how we fund education have stood for more than a half-century - and it will require leadership with competence, courage, and the charisma to sell big ideas. Click here to learn more.

2. Energy and the Environment

States around are increasingly recognizing that aggressive, forward-looking energy policies create the opportunity to simultaneously protect our environment, reduce electric bills for residents and businesses, and create quality local jobs. If we are going to get younger as a state, and develop a more dynamic, entrepreneurial economy, we must be a national leader on energy policy.  What are the four primary questions we need to answer - and what are the answers? Click here to learn more.

3. Reducing Gun Violence

It is possible to respect the Second Amendment and meaningfully reduce gun violence; indeed, we have a responsibility to do so. Whether due to suicide, mass shootings, homicide, or domestic violence, gun deaths destroy the lives of individuals and their loved ones, threaten our sense of community and safety, and steal the innocence of our youth. Our elected leaders must have both the competence to observe what works, and the courage to act on it. Click here to learn more.

4. Actual campaign finance reform - the public funding of elections

If you want to improve the quality of our politics in Concord, then you need to improve how they get elected - and it starts with how they raise money. Today, the incentives are clear: Focus on the people, corporations, and PACs who can give large contributions, whether they are in-state or not. Time is literally money, with candidates regularly spending 80% or more of their time raising money, typically through hours of “call time”. The calls are focused on those who each can give $250, $500, $1000, or more in a single phone call. If you aren’t likely to give at those levels, the candidate won’t call you - the time must be spent on those with the highest capacity to give. 

So let’s get PAC money, corporate contributions, out-of-state contributions, and big-dollar donors out of candidate’s campaigns, and instead reward candidates for building a wide base of low-dollar, in-state donors. Click here for a specific, proven way to do that.

5. Reproductive Rights

It is clear that even before the Supreme Court potentially takes on Roe, many Republicans here in New Hampshire are playing offense against choice - and against public opinion. 

Let's be direct: For better or for worse, in today's politics, if you are not playing offense on public policy, you will soon be playing defense. And on abortion rights, this is exactly what is happening at the state and national level right now. So we need to play offense.

We have an obligation at the state level to assert in the clearest, strongest manner possible New Hampshire’s commitment to protect and maximize the right of women to make their own health care decisions about their own bodies, including reproductive decisions. In that spirit, New Hampshire should join other states in explicitly and expansively codifying the right to safely have an abortion. Click here for a full plan on how we can do that.

6. Immigration

State government has a responsibility to work in concert with the federal government whenever required, and state immigration reform must reflect that. However, the federal government's struggle to develop long-term, sustainable immigration policy, combined with radical politicization of the topic in general,  have created challenges at the state level in our ability to address public safety, opioids, and future economic prosperity. New Hampshire needs thoughtful, bold leadership to solve the problems Washington helped create.