Voting for liberty this year? These are my recommendations for the twelve wards in the City of Manchester.
These recommendations are a combination of votes for bona fide liberty candidates plus some strategic votes to keep dangerously anti-liberty candidates out of office. Rationales are provided for these in footnotes.
If I do not know enough about a candidate being explicitly pro-liberty, I make no recommendation. This is the case for most County offices. However, in these instances, I would still recommend a vote for the Republican candidate. These offices are mainly about appropriating and spending money, so the Republican candidate will inevitably be the better choice.
For State Senators and Representatives, I make recommendations for every ward. However, in some multi-seat districts, I recommend fewer than the total number of available seats. This is intentional, and I recommend people vote this way. This is called “bullet voting.” In multi-seat districts, if you vote to fill all the seats, it is possible that your vote for one of the less pro-liberty candidates, when counted with others’ votes for that candidate, will push our pro-liberty candidate lower than one of the other anti-liberty vote-getters. So, when we have pro-liberty candidates running in multi-seat districts, please bullet vote for them and only them.
Regarding the Constitutional Amendment question, amending Part I, Art. 78 to raise the judicial retirement age to 75, I make no recommendation. On the one hand, I could support it because it eliminates a small instance of ageism in the law. On the other hand, the Constitution should not be changed lightly. I asked around to see if anyone knew the original rationale behind the age limit, which goes back to 1792. Along the lines of “Chesterton’s Fence,” I would like to know why this was put there in the first place before we remove it. There may be some forgotten wisdom in not having elderly judges, which our Constitution’s framers knew but we now forget. I was not able to get a definitive answer, so I make no recommendation one way or another on this question.
Update, 2024-11-06: The results are here.
Ward 1
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Keith Murphy4 5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 21: | Andrew Fromuth |
| State Representative Hillsborough 40: | Andre Rosa,5 Carla Gericke,5 and Alex Krantz |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 2
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 17: | Ben Prescott |
| State Representative Hillsborough 41: | Ryan Hebert5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 3
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 23: | Tim Peters |
| State Representative Hillsborough 40: | Andre Rosa,5 Carla Gericke,5 and Alex Krantz |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 4
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 24: | Dennis Demars |
| State Representative Hillsborough 41: | Ryan Hebert5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 5
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Victoria Sullivan5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 25: | Kathleen Paquette |
| State Representative Hillsborough 41: | Ryan Hebert5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 6
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Victoria Sullivan5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 16: | Larry Gagne5 and William Infantine |
| State Representative Hillsborough 39: | Jonathan Morton4 and Mark Warden4 5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 7
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Victoria Sullivan5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 26: | Brian Cole |
| State Representative Hillsborough 41: | Ryan Hebert5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 8
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Victoria Sullivan5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 15: | Mark McLean4 and Mark Proulx |
| State Representative Hillsborough 39: | Jonathan Morton4 and Mark Warden4 5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 9
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Victoria Sullivan5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 20: | Pierre Dupont5 and Jose Marte |
| State Representative Hillsborough 39: | Jonathan Morton4 and Mark Warden4 5 |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 10
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 19: | Matt Drew5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 40: | Andre Rosa,5 Carla Gericke,5 and Alex Krantz |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 11
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 22: | Karl Beisel5 and Bill Gabler |
| State Representative Hillsborough 40: | Andre Rosa,5 Carla Gericke,5 and Alex Krantz |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
Ward 12
| President: | Donald Trump or Chase Oliver1 |
|---|---|
| Governor: | Kelly Ayotte or Stephen Villee2 |
| Representative in Congress: | Russell Prescott3 |
| Executive Councilor: | John Stephen4 |
| State Senator: | Brittany Ping5 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 18: | Steven Kesselring4 |
| State Representative Hillsborough 40: | Andre Rosa,5 Carla Gericke,5 and Alex Krantz |
| Sheriff: | Write-in Josh Holmes |
| Register of Probate: | Christopher Maidment |
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If you want to vote your conscience and potentially help the Libertarian Party gain better ballot access, Chase Oliver is the liberty candidate.
However, if you vote strategically, Donald Trump is the choice. New Hampshire was a safe “blue” state up until a couple weeks ago, but recent polling is showing N.H. is now a battleground, so your vote may actually count to keep anti-liberty Democrats out of the White House. And Trump has recently promised to create a “Department of Government Efficiency” headed by none other than Ron Paul and Elon Musk, so he is actually a pro-liberty candidate at this point.
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If you want to vote your conscience and potentially help the Libertarian Party gain better ballot access, Stephen Villee is the liberty candidate.
However, if you vote strategically, Kelly Ayotte is the choice. I do not make a recommendation for Ayotte lightly, as I campaigned against her in the primary, and in 2010 when she ran for U.S. Senate. Her opponent for Governor, Joyce Craig, is the former Mayor of Manchester whose (lack of) administration is responsible for Manchester’s housing, homeless, drug, and crime issues. Craig has promised to bring back the interest & dividends tax we just succeeded in repealing. And she is openly supporting bringing gun control to New Hampshire. If Craig becomes Governor, she will veto tons of good legislation coming from our liberty reps. We will accomplish nothing for the next two years no matter how many reps we elect. On the other hand, many of our incumbent liberty reps already have a working relationship with Ayotte, so she will sign our legislation when it lands on her desk. Craig needs to be kept out of Concord, so a vote for Ayotte is vital here.
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This is not just a strategic vote. Russell Prescott may seem mediocre to some, but I have spoken to liberty activists who have worked with him, and they claim he actually listens to his constituents and is teachable on liberty issues he may not understand or yet agree with us on.
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Endorsed by Americans For Prosperity – New Hampshire (AFP-NH).
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Endorsed by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA). ▰