New London
John Garvey, a Democrat from New London, said on Wednesday that he would pursue the two-year seat in Senate District 8, which includes seven Upper Valley towns in the Sunapee region.
And in Lempster, Jim Beard, a retired aviation sales and marketing executive, is running as a Republican. The two men, both 63, are pursuing what would be their first legislative position.
Garvey, a University of New Hampshire law professor and U.S. Navy veteran, announced his candidacy in an interview at his home Wednesday.
He cited his 35 years of experience as a mediator and an arbitrator as a reason he would make an effective state senator.
“I think progress comes when people get together, when they listen and when they find common ground, and they compromise, and they go forward,” he said. “And that’s what I intend to do in the Senate.”
Looking at New Hampshire’s ailing infrastructure, Garvey sees a chance to use his mediation skills to help repair roads and bridges, as well as to spread phone service and broadband internet across the state.
“If you go from point A to point B in District 8,” Garvey said, “often you have to go to point C, which is the garage, for repair.”
He added, however, that he does not propose any new taxes. Instead, he said, existing revenue structureswill accommodate infrastructure projects as the state economy grows.
Garvey said he was prepared for the difficult financial decisions involved in New Hampshire lawmaking, noting that he had directed the University of New Hampshire’s Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, which affords law students a working alternative to the bar exam, on a “shoestring budget.”
As an attorney, Garvey was involved with the landmark Claremont Coalition lawsuit regarding school funding in New Hampshire. And he also has political roots in the New London area.
He is married to Cotton Cleveland, the daughter of the late U.S. Rep. James Cleveland, R-N.H., and his mother-in-law, Hilary Cleveland, who has taught at Colby-Sawyer College, is his campaign treasurer.
Garvey and Beard share a point in common: job creation through education.
Both men say they want to put Granite Staters to work by offering more vocational training, and Beard, for his part, called education his first priority.
Beard, who worked for decades in sales and marketing for companies such as de Havilland, Saab and Embraer, said he wanted to bolster technical training at the high-school level.
“I feel that we’ve failed, really, as a nation in doing away pretty much with the technical skills that we used to have in our high schools,” he said. “The reason I feel that way is my dad was an industrial arts teacher” — in Sunapee, Beard said. “I learned a lot from him.”
Vocational training will boost the economy and give residents access to work, Beard predicted, which in turn will help to address the ongoing opioid crisis.
“If you’ve got a job and responsibility, if you’re in a stable environment, chances are you’re not going to be on drugs,” he said.
Beard’s second goal was to look at lowering taxes on businesses, in hopes of keeping them healthy and operating in New Hampshire.
Before making his run, Beard said he had consulted with sitting Republican legislators, including fellow Lempster resident Jim Grenier, a Republican state representative, and Little, the incumbent senator.
The last Democrat to hold the seat left office in 2002, and until 2014 former state Sen. Bob Odell, R-New London, represented District 8.
Asked whether that meant the Senate district was a reliable win for the GOP, Garvey said no. He noted that, going back about 12 years, the area has been “consistently voting for Democrats at the top of the ticket.”
The district covers the Upper Valley towns of Croydon, Grantham, Newport, New London, Springfield, Sunapee and Unity.
“I don’t view it as a Republican seat,” Garvey said, adding later in the conversation, “I think it’s a moderate district, and I’m a moderate person.”
Garvey and Beard may not be the only candidates to join the race, according to current and former GOP legislators who mentioned that Bob Fredette, of Hillsborough, and Ruth Ward, of Stoddard, were mulling their own runs as Republicans.
Fredette and Ward could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
In an email, JP Marzullo, a Deering Republican who lost to Little in 2014’s primary, said he will not run again.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.