The Executive Council meets on May 15, 2024. (Ethan DeWitt | New Hampshire Bulletin)
New Hampshire’s five Executive Council seats are up for a vote Tuesday, as Democrats attempt to take back control of the important chamber from the current Republican majority.
The council, a part of the executive branch whose members are directly elected by voters, holds the power to approve or deny the governor’s judicial nominations, state agency appointments, and major department spending requests and contracts.
Currently, the chamber is controlled by Republicans, 4-1. Democrats have sought to draw attention to a series of votes in which Republican councilors have blocked hundreds of thousands of dollars in state contracts to Planned Parenthood, after the Republicans raised objections to the organization for providing abortions. Republicans say retaining control over the chamber will allow them to act as a check on excessive state spending.Â
Some of the five seats have incumbents seeking reelection, while others are open.Â
In District 1, which covers much of the North Country and cities such as Berlin, Rochester, Dover, and Laconia, Republican Joseph Kenney, a former state representative and U.S. Marine, is seeking reelection after holding the seat for three of the last four elections since 2016. His opponent is Emmett Soldati, a Democrat and the owner of Teatotaller Café, who ran previously for the District 2 Executive Council seat in 2020.
District 2 is the only district currently held by a Democrat, Cinde Warmington, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor, losing to Joyce Craig in September, and who cannot run for re-election. Seeking to keep the seat in Democratic hands is Karen Liot Hill, the former mayor of Lebanon and current Lebanon city councilor, who is running against Republican Kim Strathdee, an accountant and tax expert who has run for the seat three previous times. The district covers much of the northwest and southwest of the state, including Keene, Concord, Lebanon, Plymouth, and Lincoln.
In District 3, which covers the southeastern-most corner of the state, Republican incumbent Janet Stevens, a former small-business owner and the president of JL Stevens & Associates, a marketing company, is seeking to win reelection against former state Sen. Jon Morgan, a Democrat. Morgan is a former contractor of the Department of Defense who now works for a cybersecurity company based in Silicon Valley. The district includes Portsmouth, Derry, and Salem.
District 4 is an open seat held by Republican Ted Gatsas, the former mayor of Manchester, who is not running for reelection. The district, which includes Manchester and Bedford, is being contested by Jim O’Connell, a Democrat and founder of a cybersecurity company, and John Stephen, a Republican consultant who served as commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services from 2003 to 2007.
And in District 5, Republican Dave Wheeler is seeking to keep a seat he has held for seven out of 12 terms since 2001. Wheeler, a maple syrup and Christmas tree farmer, is facing off against former Democratic state Sen. Melanie Levesque, president of the communications consulting company TCS of America Enterprises, in a district that includes Nashua, Weare, Richmond, and Rindge.