Chester New Hampshire Democrats

03/11/2026

Congratulations to Democrat Bobbi Boudman, of Wolfeboro for winning her District 7 Special Election!
She defeated Republican Dale Fincher, also of Wolfeboro, 2,207 to 2,042, in Carroll County District 7.

The district covers Ossipee, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro. The House seat was open after Republican Glenn Cordelli resigned in the fall as he moved out of the state.

03/09/2026

NH 5050-1 No Kings Rally At The State House


On Saturday, March 28, NH 50501 will hold a "No Kings" rally at the New Hampshire State House in Concord. The message is clear: no thrones, no crowns, no kings.

What started in 2025 as a single day of resistance has grown into a sustained national movement. From small towns to cities, people are showing up to defend democracy against attacks on our families, our freedoms, and our futures. This is a peaceful movement, and it keeps getting bigger.

When families are under attack and costs are pushing people to the edge, staying silent is not an option. Communities across the country are rising up to defend themselves against cruel and unjust acts from this administration.

This is not about watching history happen. This is about making it.

03/02/2026

Hey Chester Dems! Election Filing Seaason is coming up...

There are a couple of opportunities coming up to get involved in local or state politics and serve your community.

Town of Chester Elections:
There are multiple opportunities to serve our community in non-partisan local government positions. Most of these are three (3) year terms.
Registered voters may file their Intent for Candidacy with the Town Clerk for any of these open positions in the upcoming municipal election from March 25th, 2026 through April 3rd, 2026. (You can find a list of all open offices on the Town Clerk’s Webpage at www.chesterNH.org.
 Town elections will be held on May 12th, 2026 from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM this year.

State House of Representatives:
The filing period to run for New Hampshire State Representative in the 2026 election is from June 3, 2026, to June 12, 2026. Candidates must file their declaration of candidacy, associated forms, and fees with the Secretary of State or their local town/city clerk, with in-person filing required on the final day.
We still need to identify someone to run for the standalone House District 3 seat for Chester.
 The Election Day for State Primary Voting will take place this year on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026
 The Election Day for General Election voting will take place this year on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026

If you are interested in this position, or know someone who might be, please reach out to either myself ([email protected]) or Andy Slade ([email protected]) ~ we will be glad to help!

02/26/2026

The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute Spring Tour

This spring, New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute invites you to join them for a series of in-person presentations, “The State Budget: What You Need to Know.” These presentations are focused on the State Budget and what it means for you and your community.

Their research team will break down the State Budget, share insights from our research, and answer attendees’ questions. These sessions are designed to make complex policy decisions easier to understand and introduce our work to neighbors across the state.

The Rockingham County event will be held on Wednesday, May 27, at 6:00 PM at the Portsmouth Senior Activity Center, Portsmouth
Use the link below to register for an event!

“We hope you’ll attend the event closest to you and consider inviting friends, colleagues, or community members who may be interested.” ~ NHFPI

PHIL SLETTEN is the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute's Research Director, where he has worked since 2016. He specializes in revenue, budget, and tax policy analysis.

02/26/2026

Calendar Alert! March 11th!

Hey Chester Dem’s! Let’s get March 11th on our calendars to show our support for the Chester School Board and the Staff at Chester Academy!

As always, you can find the documents and details on the SAU 82 Website!

The Chester School District meeting is coming up and YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED VOTER to participate! See details on registering below.

Just a reminder from the Supervisors of the Checklist that if you want to vote at the School District Meeting on Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 at 6pm in the Media Center at Chester Academy, you must be a registered voter in the Town of Chester. Your absolute last opportunity to register before the Meeting is Saturday, February 28th, 2026 from 1030am - 1030am in Room #6 at Town Hall (84 Chester Street)..

02/06/2026

Hey Chester Dem’s!
Did you know that since 1934, no president with an approval rating below 65% has gained House seats in a midterm election?
Of note: Trump currently stands at 42% says Silver.
So, there’s that…

Also, in this column by Mona Charen from “The Bulwark”, she reports on a new survey from “More in Common”, an international pro-democracy organization. Between April 2025 and January 2026, they canvassed more than 18,000 Americans, including nearly 11,000 who voted for Trump and came up with some interesting ~ tho not necessarily surprising ~ results.
Based on the results, Mr. Trump’s “mandate” isn’t what it once was.

Trump is governing like he has a huge mandate. The numbers disagree.

02/03/2026

Open Enrollment

The amended version of House Bill 751 is probably destined to pass the Senate and House.
The best hope is to prevail upon Governor Ayotte to decline to sign it.

To put it kindly, if this bill is jammed into law as planned, “Something this complicated needs more than a few weeks to implement or it will create chaos and uncertainty.” as Mr Rayno says in the attached article.
But creating chaos in the Public Education system isn’t a “bug” in the current Republican strategy, it’s a “feature”.

Mr. Rayno does a much better job of explaining the Property Tax impact, so I’ll leave that to him.

However, one aspect that he doesn’t touch on is the Administrative impact.
The “Average Daily Attendance” figure that he mentions is the key component used by NH DOE when calculating annual state aid for local school districts and they use the figure (number of students) and demographic as of October 1st of each year to complete these calculations.
If the enrollment is a fluctuating figure due to families choosing to move students then the calculations will be “off”… and it will be up to the local Administrator’s to try and work this out with both the state for incoming or exiting students and to transfer the appropriate dollars with the student.
Rewriting these procedures will take a fair amount of time and effort by NH DOE, and this Bill doesn’t allow for that.

This “reconciliation” of student aid activity has never been a strong suit of NH DOE and with less personnel on staff and more complexity this will surely put more work on the local SAU staff to sort this out.

The Legislators have chosen this path.
Let’s hope that enough concerned citizens contact the Governor to cause her to carefully consider the true impact of HB 751.

Last week the Senate was in a hurry to pass two bills that will significantly harm the majority of school districts and students in public schools, while property wealthy districts and well-to-do families will benefit, all in the name of school choice.

01/19/2026

Hey Chester Dems!
New Hampshire HB 155, concerning a Business Enterprise Tax (BET) rate reduction from 0.55% to 0.50% for 2026 and beyond, passed the House in early January 2026 but faced strong bipartisan opposition, with advocates highlighting potential state revenue loss and increased local property tax burdens, while supporters claim it boosts business competitiveness; the bill's next step involves review by the Senate in the ongoing 2026 session.

Simply put, HB155 Is a Corporate Bailout that we simply can’t afford at this time. It doesn’t make sense to give another tax break to wealthy corporations while families all across New Hampshire are struggling to simply keep up with the cost of living.
If passed, it would cut New Hampshire’s Business Enterprise Tax (BET) — a tax already reduced by nearly 27% since 2015. Lowering the BET again would hand another major tax break to large corporations while draining millions from the state budget.
There is a significant Fiscal Impact if this Bill is signed into law. The Office of Legislative Budget Assistant (LBA) estimated the cumulative fiscal impact as a reduction in State Revenue of $4.3M in year 1; $24M in year 2; and $46.3M in year 3.
Despite the current struggles with meeting existing Revenue Projections, this Bill is a priority being advanced with support from “Americans For Prosperity”, touting a “trickle-down economics” theory as justification.
Do you really believe that this concept is applicable in the current economy?

Here’s what the bill does:
• Lowers the BET rate from 0.55% → 0.50%
• Would potentially cost the state a cumulative fiscal impact ~ as a reduction in State Revenue ~ of $46.3M in year 3 (based on 2023 filings)
• Adds to the $795M–$1.17B already lost from business-tax cuts since 2015
• Benefits the largest 1% of corporations, not small local businesses

After house republicans advanced HB 155, this bill heads to the Senate for a vote. If it becomes law, it will deepen New Hampshire’s fiscal crisis, raise property taxes, and reduce available funding for housing, child care, education, and health care.
Does that make sense to you???

Our colleagues at “Our Economy / Our Future NH” have provided an easy-to-use tool to contact your Senator via e-mail. (Note ~ you can customize / edit the text as you prefer before sending it.)

Please take a few minutes to contact you state Senator!

Hardworking Granite Staters, their families, and our small businesses are being squeezed from all sides—rent and mortgage payments have doubled since 2015, child care for two kids now costs almost $30,000 a year, and health insurance costs are up more than 300 percent. While everyday costs climb,...

01/19/2026

Hey Chester Dems!
On Thursday, January 22, the Senate Education Finance Committee is holding several public hearings on important education funding bills: SB 582 and SB 584, which will increase the State’s share of public education funding for New Hampshire students.

SB 584 would increase State spending on special education up to about 50% of the total actual cost for providing these critical services, up from only about 10% currently. This change will have the effect of shifting some of those costs from the current burden on local property taxpayers.

As most of you know, I served as the Chair of the School Board in our community for more than 15 years. Each year, as we worked on the annual Budget, the most confounding issue was usually funding Special Education services. While we were usually quite clear on the services that we needed to provide, there was usually little clarity on the state's obligated funding due to the formulas applied to calculate the State's contribution in any given year. And, believe me, it often varied widely from year to year.

Each year, more than 30,000 students in our public schools receive special education services, yet the State currently covers only 10% of the total cost of providing those mandated services. As a result, school districts and local property taxpayers are forced to absorb these costs, creating inequities between communities and limiting districts’ ability to meet the needs of students.

SB 584 will help address this long-standing problem by increasing the State’s share of special education costs which will directly reduce the amount that local property taxpayers currently pay. By strengthening the State’s role in funding special education, these bills will also support districts in meeting their legal obligations to students who qualify for these services so that they all have access to an excellent public education.
This is a long-standing critical issue that will address funding and effective programs for our most vulnerable students.

Additionally, SB 582 will increase base adequacy for every public school student in the state to the “minimum conservative threshold” of $7,356 set in the ConVal NH Supreme Court ruling last July. This will shift roughly $500 million off of local property taxes.
As you well know, this issue has been lacking clarity for many years such that the NH Supreme Court felt compelled to provide firm direction to the Legislature.
Isn’t it about time for our Legislators to step up to this challenge?

I urge you to support both of these bills in the hope that we can see meaningful steps toward a more fair and sustainable education funding system in New Hampshire.

Our colleagues at the NH School Funding Fairness Project have provided a quick and easy-to use tool to reach out to your representatives on this issue

Please take a few minutes to contact you state House Representative!

01/19/2026

Hey Chester Dems!

A few weeks ago, the NH House killed HB 675, a bill that would have imposed a state-mandated cap on school district budgets. HB 675, was an act increasing the total revenue raised under the statewide education property tax, requiring municipalities to remit excess statewide education property tax payments to the department of revenue administration, limiting the authority of school districts to make certain appropriations, and increasing base adequacy costs per pupil.

Now, lawmakers are trying to push basically the same policy through a last-minute, non-germane amendment to an existing Bill which would completely change the focus of that unrelated bill.
Shouldn’t our representatives be listening to the voice of their constituents and working on REAL Property Tax Relief rather than pursuing a “solution” that has already been rejected?
If you feel that way, please contact them today and let them know how you feel.

The House Election Law Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Amendment 0093h to HB 1300 on Tuesday, January 20th at 10:15am the Granite Place Legislative Building room 158.
Over the past year, when school budget caps were presented honestly and directly, voters and legislators alike said no. Reintroducing a policy with the same impact at the state level through this amendment does nothing to actually provide property tax relief, because it fails to address the real problem: the State’s ongoing failure to adequately fund public education. Instead, it would force local communities to absorb rising, unpredictable costs—like the unexpected health insurance increases hitting districts right now—by cutting programs and opportunities for students.

Our colleagues at the NH School Funding Fairness Project have provided a quick and easy-to use tool to reach out to your representatives on this issue:

01/13/2026

Do you oppose Anti-Vaxxer Legislation?

On Thursday, there is a public hearing for a Republican sponsored bill that will prohibit state agencies and political subdivisions from advertising or expending funds to advertise vaccines in the state of New Hampshire.
This position is irresponsible and flies in the face of long- standing policy regarding the roles and responsibility of Public Health officials in order to appease the minority “anti-vaxxer” opinion and ideology.

OPPOSE HB1616, an act prohibiting state agencies and political subdivisions from advertising or expending funds to advertise vaccines in the state of New Hampshire.��By Wednesday use this link to sign into the House Remote Testimony tool to voice your opposition:

https://gc.nh.gov/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx

~ Note: sample testimony that you can use is attached in the comments!

Attach document below by clicking the Choose File button and selecting your file (PDF Format Only - 2MB Maximum file size):

01/11/2026

What is fiscal responsibility, anyway?

Former Governor Sununu has moved on to greener pastures but the state, Governor Kelly Ayotte and the Executive Branch are facing significant challenges in this the second year of the biennium.

Pointing out the lack of fiscal responsibility by the former Governor and the current leadership in Concord isn’t something that I would necessarily characterize as “partisan”. Maybe just good common sense.
But, to paraphrase Colin Powell, “you broke it, you own it”, right?

The point of Mr. Rayno’s article is that this fiscal irresponsibility of reducing state revenues impacts more than just the delivery of social services, it impacts all levels of a functioning government.
While education and infrastructure issues (like roads, bridges and dams) are typically highlighted, these actions also result in the reversal of “good government” that we all previously agreed on. Like the elimination of the full-time RSA 91-a (right-to-know) Ombudsman position, for example.
Not to mention the mess that is now the Youth Development Center (YDC) settlement fund.

There are a lot of good reasons to highlight Garry Rayno’s ~ excellent as always ~ reporting on “InDepthNH” on our State Budget.

As we start the next legislative session to consider 1,147 Bills, it is a good time to look both backward and forward to be our best-informed selves.
And remember how we got here.

https://indepthnh.org/2026/01/10/distant-dome-state-government-facing-grim-budget-picture/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPQojJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR4QaEdgvH4JFsiBcn_7716ojnBmoK4P0ISNmdAa_8S1Jr_cz4GdJTgGKx-XpQ_aem_V76ODgwIv1kazVJOkpfguA

But rather than put money away for a looming rainy day that was inevitable when the federal money dries up, led by Gov. Chris Sununu, Republican lawmakers and a handful of Democrats cut the rates of the two businesses taxes that supply the largest amount of state generated revenue, eliminated the st...