Hampton and Seabrook Republicans face off in competitive NH House primaries

HAMPTON — The towns of Hampton and Seabrook will see three contested Republican primary races for New Hampshire House of Representatives seats on Sept. 10.

In Rockingham County District 29, which represents Hampton, five Republicans are running for four spots in the general election. In Rockingham 30, representing Seabrook, four Republicans are running for two spots. And in Rockingham 40, a floterial district representing both towns, two Republicans are running for one spot.

The winners of all races will face an equal number of Democrats in November. All of the Democratic primaries are uncontested .

Here’s a look at the candidates:

Rockingham County District 29: Hampton

There are five candidates for four spots in the Republican primary for Rockingham 29, and none are incumbents.

Nicholas Bridle

Bridle grew up in Hampton Beach; his first job was at the oldLittle Jack’s Seafood restaurant at Hampton Beach. After some time away, Bridle moved back in 2014.

In 2015, he was elected to the Hampton Municipal Budget Committee. Since 2016, he has worked in emergency communications at the Derry Fire Department. Recently, he’s been the event director for the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival and the annual Hampton Holiday Parade.

According to his Citizens Count candidate survey , Bridle is pro-choice and undecided on the Education Freedom Account program. He is against income and sales tax in New Hampshire, and thinks the state should lower business taxes. Living on the Seacoast, he believes the effects of climate change, like massive flooding and king tides, “cannot be ignored,” and wants to be fiscally responsible about addressing climate change.

Bridle is in favor of legalizing marijuana and selling it through a model like the New Hampshire Liquor Stores. He is undecided on voter ID laws, saying that he doesn’t like the idea of not allowing someone the right to vote, and gun control, supporting common-sense gun reform rather than broad gun restrictions.

David Hagen

Hagen has lived in Hampton since 1983. He is on the Board of Directors at Future in Sight, a group that provides services and support to New Hampshire residents who are blind and visually impaired.

On his Facebook page , Hagen describes himself as a “pro-life Catholic” who supports the Second Amendment and less regulation on small business, and is against sales and income tax.

According to the Citizens Count candidate survey , Hagen supports banning abortion after 24 weeks with exceptions for rape/incest and health complications, and states his view there is “no abortion ban in New Hampshire” with a current law similar to other New England states. He believes that “parents should be able to choose the best education for their children.”

Hagen also thinks New Hampshire needs to do more to secure the voting process, doesn’t think the state should do more to address climate change, and is against the legalization of marijuana as well as stricter gun control laws.

Ken Sheffert

Sheffert is a businessman who is currently a real estate specialist at Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes and Mountains. He previously served one term as a state representative from 2010-12, representing then Rockingham District 15 along with four others. Since then, he has run for re-election several times.

Sheffert said in an Op-ed in 2022 that during his time in Concord, he worked with others to reduce the state’s budget 11% and to bring “realistic, affordable, and convenient” health care to the state with “no financial impact” on taxpayers. He also sponsored a roadside tree maintenance bill that keeps utility crews safe and keeps the “lights on” for New Hampshire residents and businesses.

During Sheffert’s 2022 campaign for state representative, he vowed to “stay fiscally focused while tackling the needs of our community and our great state.” He lost in the general election.

Bruce Theriault

Theriault has lived in Hampton with his wife Judith for nearly 20 years, according to an interview with The Patch . He is a retired technical manager.

According to Theriault’s Facebook page, he believes in school choice, low taxes, and “two genders.” He also wants to “revive economy, immigration, and environment.” To The Patch, he said that the most pressing issue to him is inflation, calling on preserving the New Hampshire advantage of no sales or income tax and spending only what is necessary to provide a “healthy and comfortable” life for constituents.

Theriault ran for state representative in 2022 too, losing in the general election. During that campaign, he told Seacoastonline he believes abortion is a state issue, that it’s an issue between a patient and their doctor, and that he is in favor of allowing abortion within 15 weeks. Theriault also said that small businesses are the “lifeblood” of an economy, and that the transition to alternative energy resources will be gradual. According to the 2022 Citizens Count candidate survey , Theriault said he was in support of the education freedom account program.

George Attar

According to LinkedIn , Attar is a consultant who was the president of Surge Resources Inc. until 2021. He is a graduate of Bentley University and Boston University’s business school.

Seacoastonline was not able to get in contact with Attar and he has not yet filled out his positions on Citizens Count or Ballotpedia.

Who are the Democrats running?

The four candidates who garner the most votes in the primary will face incumbents Rep. Chris Muns, D-Hampton, and Rep. Mike Edgar, D-Hampton, along with Alan Scott Blair and Erica de Vries. De Vries ran for election to Rockingham 40 in 2022 but lost the general election.

Incumbent representatives Rep. Tracy Emerick, R-Hampton, and Rep. Candice O’Neil, D-Hampton, are not running for re-election.

Sample ballots for both parties can be found here .

Rockingham County District 30: Seabrook

Seabrook has four candidates for two spots in the House, including incumbent Rep. Aboul Khan, R-Seabrook. Former Rep. Tina Harley, R-Seabrook, resigned earlier this year. You can find a sample ballot here.

William Fowler

Fowler is a former state representative who served from 2018-2020. He is a customer support/ security specialist. He ran for state representative in 2020 and 2022, but did not advance through the primary. He also ran for the U.S. House in New Hampshire’s first congressional district in 2020, but he withdrew and endorsed Republican primary winner Matt Mowers.

In a 2018 interview with Seacoastonline, Fowler said he was running for state representative because he believed “getting people involved is the key to keeping and maintaining a productive and honest government.”

As state representative, he sponsored a couple of bills that were signed into law by Sununu, including one to make the red-tailed hawk the state raptor , one that approved a couple of organizations to issue decals for license plates, and one that prohibited the operation of personal water craft within 300 feet of any marsh land or flat in the Hampton/Seabrook estuary.

According to the 2022 Citizens Count candidate survey , Fowler supports the Education Freedom Account program, banning abortion earlier than the current 24 weeks rule, and legalizing marijuana. He is against provisional ballots for new voters and stricter gun laws. Fowler has not yet responded to the 2024 candidate survey.

Jason Janvrin

Janvrin is running for his fourth term in the New Hampshire House. This past session, he served as the representative for Rockingham 40. Previously, he was a representative for Rockingham 20 from 2017-18 and for Rockingham 37 from 2019-2020.

Janvrin also has local government experience. Currently on the Seabrook Municipal Planning Board, he also served three terms on the Seabrook Municipal Budget Committee.

Last session, he sponsored seven bills , including a prime sponsored bill signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu that helps protect a firearm purchaser’s privacy by prohibiting the use of merchant category codes for firearm and ammo purchases. Janvrin received an A+ rating from the NRA’s political action committee.

He was also the prime sponsor of HB 1121, also signed into law, which exempts certain landowners from requiring wetlands permits after a natural disaster or flooding event.

According to the 2024 Citizens Count candidate survey , Janvrin supports the Education Freedom Account program, the legalization of marijuana sales through private retail locations, and for local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. He is against climate change action, conditional affidavit ballots for new voters, and banning abortion during the second trimester.

Aboul Khan

Khan has served five terms in the New Hampshire House, from 2012-2014 and from 2016 to the present. He is running for his sixth term.

Khan has lived in Seabrook since 2000. He has served on the Seabrook Planning Board and the Budget Committee and is currently on his fifth term on the Seabrook Board of Selectmen, first elected in 2008.

Aboul supports the Education Freedom Account program, doing more to address climate change, raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana through state-run cannabis stores, and the current abortion law in New Hampshire, according to Citizens Count . He is against conditional ballots for new voters and stricter gun control laws.

In a 2022 interview with Seacoastonline, Aboul asked voters to look at his voting record.

“My district Seabrook always is my main concern, and that’s how I always voted at the House,” he said.

Matt Sabourin

Sabourin is a former Air Force officer who has lived in New Hampshire since he “escaped the lockdowns of New York State.” On his website , he said one of the reasons he separated from the military was because of the “creeping influence of progressive politics,” and he believes that a similar thing is happening to the country.

“Like many Americans, I feel like our country is headed down a bad path, and the worst thing I could do is stand by and watch as our border is overrun, our finances squandered, our family structure disintegrated,” Sabourin said. “While it’s been a few years since I’ve worn the uniform, the mission hasn’t gone away. I really believe that the citizens of NH represent the best of America, the kinds of people a servicemen would be honored to sacrifice for.”

Sabourin’s platform includes protecting fishermen by stopping offshore wind projects, stopping illegal immigration, defending parental rights and education freedom, and lowering tax burdens. He also supports the development of alternative currencies, like cryptocurrencies and precious metals, and opposes any attempt at gun control. According to Citizens Count , he is against marijuana legalization, but for decriminalization and “industrial hemp.”

Other important issues to Sabourin include a review of Seabrook’s Beach District Evaluation plans and the formation of a House Special Investigative Committee to look into Family Court and DCYF.

Sabourin said that he is endorsed by former representative Harley.

Who are the Democrats running?

Bob Albright and Justin Gregory Packard are running unopposed in the Democratic primary for Rockingham 30, meaning they will face the two winners of the Republican primary. Both representatives from Seabrook last session, Khan and Harley, were Republican.

Rockingham County District 40: Hampton/Seabrook

The incumbent representative for Rockingham 40, Rep. Jason Janvrin, R-Seabrook, is running in Rockingham 30 this year. Two Republicans are vying to take his place. Here is a sample ballot.

Linda McGrath

McGrath is the co-clerk for the Hampton GOP, a GOP state delegate, and a GOP state committee member. She worked as a pharmacist for over 40 years, but was fired from her job for refusing to give children the COVID-19 vaccine, according to an interview she did with the Patch .

Her top priority is preventing government mandates, like vaccine or mask mandates or business closures. Her other priorities include education, closing the border, and “saving our girls sports.” She supports the Education Freedom Account program, saying that “every child should have access to the school that is right for them.” She is against sanctuary policies , and would support a bill like the tabled SB 563 , which would have prohibited state and local government entities from adopting sanctuary policies.

“I want to tell my six grandchildren that I stood up and fought to protect their freedoms, the freedoms that our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to secure for us all!” McGrath said on her website about why she is running for state representative.

In a video on the Hampton GOP’s Facebook page, McGrath said she will “always uphold the Constitution” and “put our children first.” On abortion, she said that the majority of NH citizens support current state law, but that the only compromise that has made sense to her is that “if we pull the plug on dying people if certain brain activity is absent then we should protect babies at the point that brain activity begins," a statement she said comes from a book by Carl Sagen.

Richard Sawyer

Sawyer is the chief deputy of the Rockingham County Sherriff’s Office. He has been a police officer for 35 years, including 25 in the Hampton Police Department, where he was the police chief from 2014 to 2020. Sawyer also served as a Hampton selectman.

Sawyer said he decided to run “out of a sense of frustration.”

“I look at what's going on this country and the absolute partisanship that has really frozen our ability to get things done, and I've seen that trickle down to Concord,” Sawyer said. “I see far too many representatives that are more concerned about the party's agenda than the communities that elected them and to represent them. And I just, you know, I am not a Republican from Hampton. I'm from Hampton. I happen to be a Republican.”

Sawyer said the communities of Seabrook and Hampton mean more to him than party affiliation, and that he wants to work across the aisle when he can and when it’s best for the people in his community.

One of his top issues is how funding for New Hampshire is structured, saying that Hampton and Seabrook deserve more resources as communities who bring in a lot of revenue from tourism. He also wants to reverse a law that altered the police and fire department retirement system, saying that it has caused a shortage of police officers. Sawyer has received the endorsement of the New Hampshire Police Association.

Sawyer supports the Education Freedom Account program to a limit, but he also thinks if the state works harder to maintain public schools, the voucher program will no longer be an issue. He supports and wouldn’t change New Hampshire’s current abortion law. He believes in preserving the environment, but also thinks there needs to be more research into different solutions and doesn’t want to do anything off of the shoreline that would interfere with tourism and fishing.

Who is running on the Democratic side?

John Patrick Carty is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton and Seabrook Republicans face off in competitive NH House primaries