After last week’s election results dramatically shifted power in the New Hampshire House, the new Democratic majority faces its first big task: picking leadership.
Republicans held a 215-177 majority prior to Election Day. Once the new lawmakers elected last week are sworn in, that’ll become a 291-108 Democratic majority (including one independent), pending recounts. With their new majority, Democrats will have enough control to pick the speaker of the House for the first time in six years.
The speaker has an array of responsibilities. They make committee assignments, preside over voting sessions, and control how bills move through the legislative process.
Rep. Alexis Simpson, who has led the caucus as minority leader since 2024, was instantly seen as a candidate for the role. But she now faces a challenge from Rep. Jim Maggiore, a five-term representative who ran for state senate as a Republican in 2016 before switching parties. On Thursday, the House Democratic Caucus is set to meet with the goal of coalescing around one candidate before Dec. 2, when the full House will convene to officially elect the position.
The old guard
Simpson, who has represented Exeter for five terms, argues her time leading the caucus has prepared her for this moment. She said the affordability agenda she and her colleagues pushed for the past two years was what voters responded so well to.
“My team has spent years preparing for this opportunity to put the agenda into action and hold steadfast to our values,” she said. “We did that even in the minority with grit and perseverance and determination, and now we have the chance to really lead.”
That affordability agenda mirrored Democrats’ strategy nationwide this past election cycle as candidates from North Carolina to California focused on the cost of living in campaign messaging.
“The most important thing that a House Democratic speaker can do is make sure that the needs of Granite Staters are prioritized,” Simpson said.
She believes she’s proven in the last two years that she prioritizes those needs, specifically when it comes to housing, where Democrats pushed unsuccessfully to better fund the state’s Housing Champions program, as well as childcare, where they sought to create workforce programs.
Simpson said, “1.3 million people are counting on us to address their basic day-to-day needs with integrity, and that’s what our House Democratic Caucus plans on doing.
“There are people who can’t find housing. There are people who need the government to do our job and to do it well,” she said. “And the House Democrats are ready to step up and to govern. And I don’t want that to be lost in the midst of this battle for the speaker nomination.”
A challenger
On Friday, Maggiore, who represents North Hampton and sat on the House Municipal and County Government Committee, officially announced his candidacy for speaker at a Concord press conference.
“The residents of New Hampshire have sent a clear message with this historic election,” he said. “They demand better communication, better collaboration, greater transparency, respect, and most importantly, historic legislative results across New Hampshire.”
He echoed Simpson’s call for affordability. He said it “must be the organizing principle of our work and the foundation of the most important bill that we’re going to have to undertake on day one, which is the 2027 state biennial budget.” He said that means insisting on “at the very least” accountability for the state’s voucher-like education freedom account program, which Republicans expanded in 2025, and fully funding housing initiatives.
Most notably, Maggiore argued Simpson’s leadership of the caucus hasn’t been collaborative enough.
“We will change how our caucus works,” he said. “Members should help shape major decisions, not hear about them after the fact.”
That includes, he said, engaging committee expertise earlier, better educating members about caucus priorities and mentoring newer members.
Asked about these criticisms, Simpson pushed back, saying the caucus has relied on committee member expertise and has a process for when members disagree with a committee’s stance.
“Everyone has an opportunity to sway their caucus members,” she said, “but they’re not always going to win the caucus’ vote.”
A voting record and leadership style in question
The candidates’ voting records are likely to emerge in the debate ahead. Simpson has voted with the Democratic caucus 99% of the time in partisan votes (excluding votes that were overwhelmingly bipartisan), according to an analysis by Citizens Count, a New Hampshire-based political resource nonprofit. Maggiore, on the other hand, voted with the caucus 91% of the time on such votes. Only seven Democrats voted with their party less than Maggiore, and many of the votes he broke with the party on are ones likely to ruffle some feathers.
He was one of only nine Democrats to vote in favor of Medicaid work requirements. He was one of two Democrats to vote to cut the Office of the Child Advocate budget. He was one of 49 Democrats to vote against marijuana legalization. He was one of two Democrats to vote to table a minimum wage increase. He was one of two Democrats to vote for hard labor as a punishment for certain crimes. He also voted against multiple bills to loosen zoning laws with the goal of allowing more housing.
Asked about those votes, Maggiore said representatives must “serve their constituents,” “be responsible to their own conscience” and “be responsible to the caucus.” He said balancing those three factors is “why sometimes people are going to break” with the party.
On Friday, he criticized Republicans for cutting business taxes because “the estimated benefits of the repeal went overwhelmingly not to you and me, not to the small-business owners, not to the small individual sole proprietors” but “the highest-income earners and the biggest companies in our nation.” However, he voted for one of those cuts to the business profits tax. He said he didn’t regret the vote.
“I don’t think I’ve regretted any vote I’ve ever made,” he continued. “Although I haven’t reviewed every vote I’ve ever made.”
Maggiore has taken heat online for some of his views, including from Kayla Montgomery of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, who pointed to a survey he completed. There, he said he was “undecided” on whether to ban abortion in the first trimester. She called it “disqualifying for a leadership position — of any party in NH” on social media.
However, to those who support him, Maggiore’s crossing the aisle represents a big tent view of the new Democratic majority.
Rep. Wendy Thomas, who represents Merrimack, described herself as “the poster child for progressive.” Still, she’s endorsed him, largely because she’s opposed to Simpson, echoing Maggiore’s complaints about her lack of collaboration. Thomas argued that the party can’t have “purity tests.”
“Alexis is a weak leader,” said Thomas, who was part of an informal group calling itself “Friends of Democracy” that sought an alternative to Simpson’s leadership. “She can’t hold the caucus together. She alienates people who challenge her. She’s not happy with rocking the boat.”
While vetting Maggiore, she said she and Rep. Eric Turer asked him about his vote to ban certain gender-affirming care, which concerned them as progressives.
“We were like, ‘Explain this one to us, please,’” she recalled. “And he said, ‘Well, I voted because I can’t endorse 9-year-olds having life-changing surgery.’ … And we said that never happens. That’s a Republican talking point. That just never happens, especially in New Hampshire.”
However, she said she doesn’t blame Maggiore, because in her mind, it was Simpson’s fault he wasn’t educated on the issue.
Another Maggiore supporter, Rep. Lucius Parshall, added: “I’m supporting him because I feel right now we have a lot of people whose voices aren’t being heard.”
Behind Simpson is her leadership team. Rep. Lucy Weber, who has served as the Democratic floor leader under Simpson in the minority and was the House speaker pro tem the last time Democrats held the majority, said she “absolutely supports” Simpson.
“I think she has the temperament and the knowledge and is good at finding the right slot for each person,” Weber, who has represented Walpole for 18 years, said.
She said speakers need to ensure that even superminority party members get a chance to speak their minds before a vote. Otherwise, it creates dysfunction and affects decorum.
“Creating a culture of respect where people don’t feel like they need to act out because they’re being squashed is a high priority for me,” she said. “And I know it’s a high priority for Alexis, and I absolutely assume it’s a high priority for Jim Maggiore.”