Republican Ted Gatsas is fond of saying he has gone 24-0, the number of elections he has won in the nearly two decades he has represented Manchester as an alderman, a state senator and the mayor.
The record was at risk last year, when Gatsas barely won his fourth term as mayor. When the votes were tallied, the Republican edged out his competitor by just 85 ballots.
After a recount, that margin narrowed to 64 votes out of nearly 20,000 cast.
That close victory, however, isn’t fazing Gatsas, who at age 66 is now seeking to take on an even bigger constituency — the entire state.
People “are not worried about past elections,” he said.
In the four-way Republican gubernatorial primary, he stands out as the candidate with the longest history in government.
He casts himself as a tested problem solver who has implemented fixes in Manchester to manage spending, and says he can find similar efficiencies in state government. That attitude is reflected in his campaign slogan — “Keep it simple. Get it done.”
“In this race, I am the only person who has a business background, a legislative background and an executive background,” he said. “Those three attributes I can take to Concord and get a lot of things done.”
Gatsas has become a polarizing figure in the state’s largest city. Supporters say he has managed city spending and kept taxes low, and opponents accuse him of being penny wise and pound foolish. To others, Gatsas has become known for his confrontational leadership style.
“He rules by intimidation,” said Nancy Tessier, a Democrat on the city’s School Board.
Three months before the 2015 mayoral election, he went head-to-head with Manchester teachers, vetoing a contract that gave them their first raise in two years because he said the city couldn’t afford it. The School Board took a vote of no confidence in Gatsas that carried a 10-2 tally. The board of alderman overrode Gatsas’s veto a month later as teachers in matching red T-shirts protested outside city hall.
Gatsas touts accomplishments as mayor that include installing energy-efficient LED bulbs in the city’s streetlights, a move that saved $400,000 in energy costs. But critics charge he can lose sight of solving big-picture problems.
“I am really questioning what he is going to do for the state,” said Democrat Joyce Craig, a former alderman who unsuccessfully challenged Gatsas in the 2015 mayor race. “We have seen an increase in violent crimes. We have a heroin epidemic.”
But current and former colleagues know Gatsas as a tough negotiator who is willing to accept input and ideas. Gatsas’s fixes — like replacing light bulbs or renegotiating city contracts — aren’t always “flashy,” but make Manchester run much more smoothly, they said.
“Ted is a nuts and bolts guy,” said Rich Girard, a Republican on the School Board who also hosts a talk radio show. “He has been able to make a lot of changes in budget areas and in how the city does business a lot of mayors haven’t been able to get to.”
Some see his near loss in the mayoral election as a sign of strength.
“He ran against someone who should have won the race. He ran at a time when he had gotten in a fight with the biggest union in Manchester and still won,” said Bob Clegg, who served as state Senate majority leader when Gatsas was the chamber’s president from 2005 to 2006. “It actually showed that he had a lot more support than people actually understood.”
Where He Stands
Gatsas grew up in Manchester, spending his first decade living on his grandfather’s farm, where he said he learned to milk cows and castrate pigs. Gatsas recalls neighborhood kids and community members over at the house often — and those bonds remain strong today.
Known around Manchester as “Teddy,” residents say Gatsas is a hands-on mayor who shows up at youth baseball games, festivals and Easter egg hunts.
As Gatsas walked through the city’s Greekfest recently, Dorothea Schack stopped him to say she had one of his campaign signs planted in her yard and asked if he remembered her from Sunday school. She had been his teacher, and of course he remembered her, said Gatsas, who stuck out in a bright-pink polo T-shirt. He then urged her to talk to her neighbors about his campaign.
In his six years leading the city, Gatsas said, he has missed just one School Board meeting. After undergoing a major heart surgery in 2014 — a sextuple bypass — he was back to work in two weeks.
“When you are visible and people see you, they know you truly care about the job you have,” he said.
Gatsas left the Queen City to attended the University of New Hampshire but returned to Manchester afterward and began a business called Staffing Network with his brother. The two eventually sold the business in 1997 for $40 million, according to news reports.
Gatsas married his wife, Cassandra, at age 37. The couple have no children, but they live a few houses away from Gatsas’s mother — who at 90 years old is his biggest critic, he said. He calls her four to five times a day to get feedback or advice. She recently invited him over to her house, pulled out an electricity bill from 2010 and compared it with her most recent statement, Gatsas said. She uses the same amount of energy, but costs went up $50.
Most of his policy positions are influenced by his interactions with residents, and he often cites changes he has made in the city as examples of what he would do as governor.
He supports Northern Pass but wants 30 percent of the transmission line’s power to benefit New Hampshire, up from the 10 percent currently proposed.
Gatsas, confined by a tax cap in Manchester, is acutely aware of the state’s declining retirement contributions. He pledges to veto any state budget that downshifts costs on local communities.
In the face of the opioid crisis, which has hit Manchester acutely, he proposes that dealers who sell fentanyl — an increasingly popular but deadly heroin alternative — be charged with attempted murder. If the powerful synthetic opioid kills someone, he said, the dealer would serve a life sentence without parole.
He is most proud of accomplishments on education as mayor, citing his efforts to launch the Manchester School of Technology and incorporate local businesses into the city’s STEAM Ahead program.
Education is also the area where he has stirred the most controversy. Gatsas aruged the pay raises he vetoed last year would have pushed the budget more than $500,000 over the city’s tax cap in future fiscal years.
“He’s made some enemies of people who want more spending,” said voter John Vailas, after greeting Gatsas at the city’s recent Greekfest. “But he’s a taxpayers’ best friend.”
Sue Hannan, president of the Manchester teachers union, said declining funding has led to teachers departing the district and declining test scores. The average Manchester teacher salary ranks 56th in the state at $56,981, slightly higher than the state average of $56,616, according to the Department of Education. Hannan said the contract is fair. In addition to raises, it asks teachers to contribute more toward their health care.
“He says in his ads we do more with less. We don’t, we do less with less,” she said. “He refuses to acknowledge this is a school district in need of improvement.”
While not all of Gatsas’s decisions are popular, he has promised voters that they will always know his position.
“You may not always agree with me,” he often says, “but you will always know where I stand.”
On the Issues
Commuter rail funding: Willing to look at a plan.
Reauthorizing Medicaid expansion: Advocates finding a “New Hampshire solution,” and says throwing more than 46,000 enrollees off the plan doesn’t make sense.
Decriminalizing marijuana: Opposes, say it’s not appropriate to reduce marijuana penalties amid a state opioid crisis.
Taxes: Roll back or cut the Business Profits Tax and the Business Enterprise Tax
Full-day kindergarten: Would encourage districts to adopt full-day program