In one of the only contested primaries on Upper Valley ballots Tuesday, three Sullivan County Republicans are facing off for two seats in the state House of Representatives.
Sullivan County District 8 is a sprawling floterial district that includes Claremont, Croydon, Springfield and Sunapee in the Upper Valley.
Jon Stone, of Claremont, who lost the seat in 2024, and newcomers Catherine Peschke, of Croydon and Sebastian Zyzdorf, of Goshen are on the Republican ballot Tuesday. Incumbent Republican Michael Aron, of South Acworth, is not running for reelection.
All three candidates said reducing taxation and reexamining school funding were top priorities ahead of Tuesday’s primary. All three support Education Freedom Accounts, a state grant program residents can use to fund tuition for private schools, including religious schools, and homeschooling expenses.
Tuesday’s two winners will face incumbent Democrat Hope Damon, of Croydon, and Democrat Samuel Deering of Washington in November.
Jon Stone
Stone, 52, owns the Claremont gun store named Black Op Arms. He previously served on the City Council and as a State Rep. from 2022 to 2024 and is the current chair of the Sullivan County Republican Party.
Stone said he brings an advantage for voters as the only candidate with experience at the State House and six years on the City Council.
If reelected, Stone said he will focus on fighting anti-gun legislation, reducing property taxes and taking a closer look at school funding.
“On the campaign trail, I don’t think there’s a single issue that even rises to the issue of property taxes,” Stone said in a Tuesday interview.
In particular, Stone said he does not believe property taxes should be increased to fund third-party organizations like nonprofits. While on the city council, he said he always tried to “really tow the line on the budget” and keep expenses low.
On education, Stone said school funding and property taxes are “intertwined significantly.”
Any legislative efforts to adjust public school funding should be statewide instead of targeting specific communities that have had challenges, like Claremont, Stone said. He also wants to look at how Statewide Education Property Tax funds are overseen.
Stone supports Education Freedom Accounts and the right of parents to “take their tax money and use it for the education that best suits their needs.”
On gun legislation, Stone said when he was previously in office, most of the anti-gun bills he saw were “regurgitated bills” being pushed across the country that “have no place in New Hampshire.”
“We don’t have a gun issue,” he said.
Stone’s candidacy comes with a history of controversy.
The Claremont native lost reelection in 2024 after his disciplinary record became public from his time as a Claremont police officer almost 20 years before, revealing that he threatened violence against fellow officers, the police chief and his family and was investigated for his relationship with a 16-year-old girl, which he maintained at the time was not inappropriate. Stone ultimately resigned from the Department in 2006.
Though he did not deny making comments about his chief and colleagues, Stone said this week he made no threats and his comments were “workplace banter,” similar to things his colleagues were saying. He also emphasized that the report was reviewed by judicial authorities and he was never charged with any related crimes, calling the controversy “an HR issue.”
Stone also pointed to a history of about 30 awards and commendations he earned while a Claremont police officer and multiple endorsements from former colleagues as evidence of the caliber of his law enforcement career.
In summer 2024, InDepthNH.org, which was also the first outlet to report on Stone’s personnel records, reported that Stone was fired from a subsequent job at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt. in 2021 for using racist, sexist and homophobic insults.
Stone said the investigation that resulted in his termination was a political attack motivated by his Republican values and support for President Donald Trump. Like in Claremont, Stone said colleagues in Springfield were using similar “vulgar language,” but the state used claims about his conduct as justification to fire him.
Catherine Peschke
Peschke, 62, has spent more than two decades fighting taxes and advocating for education reform. She is running “to keep the freedoms that Republicans have gained over the last ten years,” she said in a Tuesday interview.
For example, Peschke said she supports protecting the right to constitutional carry for firearms, the elimination of car inspections and homeschooling rights. She has also been a vocal supporter of New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts program since before its inception, “because public schools are not educating our kids.”
“Everyone should have the opportunity to go to the best school or have the best education that’s going to help them succeed in life,” Peschke said.
Peschke has previously worked as an audiologist and substitute teacher and homeschooled her two children, now 19 and 22. She has not held an elected office before.
School choice is top of mind for the candidate who sees the education freedom account program as a “redistribution of wealth” among New Hampshire residents.
“The EFA’s are helping poor kids get out of bad schools like Claremont,” Peschke said.
She pointed out that under the state’s public school system, people with more money can afford to live in wealthier communities and send their kids to public schools like Hanover High School. EFAs help to even the playing field, she said.
In general, Peschke said the legislature should reevaluate public school funding and teacher certification requirements. If students don’t meet certain standards, Peschke said the state should consider closing schools where they are underperforming.
“If public schools are failing their kids, then they should no longer get money,” Peschke said.
Across the board, Peschke is an advocate for small government and “the taxpayer keeping more of their money,” which she said Republicans have made good progress on in recent years.
Sebastian Zyzdorf
Zyzdorf, 25, has lived in Goshen since 2022 when he moved from Connecticut for “the values that New Hampshire had,” like lower taxation and no sales tax, he said Wednesday.
He is a member of the New Hampshire Army National Guard and transitioned to inactive status in March. Zyzdorf owns an insurance agency and a clothing business that raises awareness and funds for mental health. He also works with adults with disabilities.
Zyzdorf currently serves as vice chair of the Goshen Selectboard. If he is elected, he said he will prioritize lowering taxes, public safety and mental health.
He said the state has a “spending problem,” and one way he would look to lower taxes is by evaluating what is being funded and not being afraid to sunset programs that no longer serve taxpayers.
“The point of taxpayer funds in my eyes is to not only keep an old program alive, but to look into revitalizing that program so it assists the taxpayers that are actually funding it,” Zyzdorf said.
The candidate is also a big proponent of public safety. He is interested in introducing a domestic violence offender registry for the state, something that Tennessee became the first state to implement in January.
The system, which creates a publicly accessible database of offenders convicted of domestic violence, is designed to be low-cost, but Zyzdorf said he would have to look at the numbers and how the system might be adapted to New Hampshire.
After losing his best friend to suicide in 2021, Zyzdorf said he is also passionate about mental health and finding ways to “allocate resources” and “broaden the access to care” for people struggling with their mental health.
On the education front, Zyzdorf said he supports school choice through education freedom accounts and said the state needs to lower spending on education. He added that districts could also reallocate spending while making cuts.
“My biggest question I always ask myself is why are there administrative superintendents that are making $100,000, $200,000 dollars a year when teachers claim that they aren’t making enough,” Zyzdorf said. “That’s a large sum of money that could be reallocated.”
