Republicans currently hold a 9-4 advantage over Democrats in the Sullivan County delegation of state representatives. In Sullivan District 8, with two seats, incumbent Democrats Hope Damon of Croydon and Samuel Deering of Washington are facing Republicans Jon Stone, a former state Rep. and former Claremont City Councilor, and Cathy Peschke of Croydon. The floterial district includes Claremont and the county’s eastern towns of Acworth, Croydon, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Springfield, Sunapee and Washington.
Damon, 69, first elected in 2022, and Deering, 38, said they are campaigning on making New Hampshire more affordable. Stone and Peschke say curbing spending and rejecting new taxes are their themes that will improve affordability.
Damon said she frequently hears the same things from voters when campaigning. “Life is not affordable. Property taxes are too high. Fuel costs too much.”
“Affordability is absolutely the most important thing for the state government to be looking at,” Damon said. “What are the ways we can make things more affordable for people?”
Damon said she is opposed to an income tax on high earners and sales tax on luxury goods proposed by Democratic state Rep. Ellen Read, of Newmarket, but does see other ways to bring in more state revenue, including restoring the interest and dividends tax and raising the business taxes back to previous levels that could fund more state aid for education.
Damon is also opposed to the education tax cap question on the ballot statewide that would limit budget increases to the rate of inflation and cap administrative costs at no more than 6% of total school expenses.
“I think it is a total erosion of local control,” she said. “It has no caveat for unexpected circumstances like rising fuel costs. Voters can already cap school taxes” by voting on the annual budget, she added.
Regarding Education Freedom Accounts that give parents public money to educate their children outside the public school system, Damon wants to see more accountability on outcomes, “the same as any other program.”
“Secondly, I would like to see an income cap for eligibility that is equal to the income cap for free and reduced lunches,” Damon said.
Democrats have long argued that the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligation — backed up by court rulings — to properly fund education.
“I want to see us participate parallel to what other states do,” Damon said. “Now, 70% of public education is paid by property taxes and 30% by the state. Most states it is the reverse. We wouldn’t be paying more overall. We pay enough. It is not distributed well.”
Restoring the interest and dividends tax and increasing the Business Profits Tax to previous percentages would help fund the state’s obligation, Damon said.
Damon also believes the state has a role in addressing the critical housing shortage in New Hampshire.
“We are losing young people to other states because there is no place for them to settle here.”
Damon would like to restore state funding to the Housing Champions program and also supports allowing new manufactured housing in areas with single-family homes. She suggested the state also look at state-owned land and develop a partnership with private developers.
“It really could mean a significant increase in affordable housing,” Damon said.
Regarding data centers, Damon said she is concerned with the lack of standards to control them and where they might be located.
“I am not opposed to data centers not being allowed anywhere in New Hampshire. I am very concerned that we be deliberate about what our capacity is for the electricity and water” needed to run them, she said.
Deering, 38, is a Navy veteran and self-employed potter and pottery teacher making his first run for public office.
“It is the cost of living and primarily what we can do at the state level to address property taxes, which have really shot up the past few years,” Deering said in a phone interview about his campaign message to voters. “It has gotten to the point where people have to sell their house or are thinking of selling their house. And the people who are saying that to me are not staying in New Hampshire. We have to rebalance our state revenue so we have a fair tax stream that is not putting so much of the burden on renters and homeowners. We need as many representatives as possible who are going to fight to represent the working class.”
With no income or sales tax, New Hampshire relies on state revenues or property taxes. In the last 10 years, state revenues have fallen with the elimination of the interest and dividends tax and lower business taxes, with more than a billion dollars shuffled down to property taxes, Deering said.
Deering opposes the Read income and sales tax proposal and agrees with Damon on restoring the interest and dividends tax and increasing the business profits tax from 7.5% to the previous 8.5%.
“I don’t think we need to reintroduce anything. We already have the taxes in place that need to be adjusted,” he said.
Deering also opposes the tax cap on school spending because it could lead to deferred maintenance that ends up costing more. “It is not a tax cap. It is a spending cap, and that should be left to voters in each town,” he said.
Deering would like an income cap on Education Freedom Accounts. He could support the state helping lower-income families send children to private schools but not wealthy families with children already in private school. “They don’t need that public money,” he said.
To raise the per-pupil state adequacy grant, Deering goes back to reinstating the interest and dividends tax and raising business taxes back to previous levels.
“The money is there, we just need the political will to get it,” he said.
Deering is behind a moratorium on data centers pending more research on their impact.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” said Deering, who also wants to prioritize making child care more affordable if voters send him to Concord, calling it a “worthwhile state investment” that will help young families stay in New Hampshire.
Encouraging manufactured housing, streamlining the permitting process and utilizing public land could all help increase the housing supply, Deering said.
Cathy Peschke, 62, says if elected she will work to preserve the New Hampshire advantage of low taxes and oppose any income or sales tax. Coming from a state with both types of taxes, Peschke said promises they can reduce property taxes are false.
“They only result in more spending and no reduction in property taxes,” Peschke said.
She also backs the school tax cap question on the ballot. Since 2020, New Hampshire has seen an enrollment drop of 50,000 students, yet administrative costs keep increasing, Peschke said.
“We are spending more per student, and we are not getting better educational results,” she added.
Peschke is also a strong supporter of Education Freedom Accounts because they give children an opportunity to “escape” schools that are underperforming.
“Why should students be forced into staying in failing schools?” Peschke said in a phone interview with the Valley News. “They (EFAs) do not affect property taxes, and you should be able to take education dollars wherever you choose.”
Calls for the state to send more per-pupil adequacy aid to local school districts with additional taxes, which some claim will reduce property taxes, bother Peschke. She said when adequacy aid and other aid is included, the state spends more than $7,000 per pupil.
“To me, taxes beget more taxes and people will see an overall tax increase,” Peschke said. “It is never enough for them,” she added about the schools. “Have they ever said we have enough? They just want more and more and more. They don’t care about taxpayers.”
Peschke calls herself a “free market person” and does not see the state as having a role in funding housing programs to ease the housing shortage. She believes the housing demand is driven by so many people wanting to come to New Hampshire to live and work because of Republican policies.
Reducing the cost of regulation and permitting is one avenue Peschke would support to make it easier and less costly for developers. “That is something towns can decide,” she said.
Jon Stone, 52, previously served one term in the House before losing re-election two years ago. He was also a Claremont City Councilor for six years. He owns Black Op Arms, a Claremont gun store, and is chairman of the Sullivan County Republican Party.
Stone said he has not changed his priorities since he was in the House and remains firmly opposed to new taxes or tax increases. In conversations with voters, Stone said he hears over and over again concerns over taxes, fuel costs, and more from many on fixed income who have to tap their savings.
“I will oppose any form of new taxes. I think we have a spending problem, on the state, county and city levels,” Stone said.
He supports the school tax cap. “I think the voters should have the right to either accept it or reject it,” he said, calling Democrats’ attempts to keep it off the ballot by challenging it in court “disheartening.”
Stone also would consider increasing EFAs as they relate to inflation in the next legislative session.
Regarding the question of whether state funding for education should be increased and by how much, Stone said he does not support restoring the interest and dividends tax or increasing business taxes to finance education and is interested in seeing the state take on a more active role in funding special education costs, of which it now pays only 11%. He said the state is not getting enough federal dollars to be in compliance on special education.
“I’d like to see the funding mechanism change,” Stone said on how to help local districts with the goal of easing property taxes. “We need a more fair and equitable way of funding education.
“We also need to cap the growth of administrative costs, and that is the purpose of HB 1300 (school tax cap),” he said.
Stone also backed open enrollment for public schools. “I think if the parent wants to send the child to the best school, that should be up to the parent,” he said.
On the question of increasing housing, Stone said the housing shortage is best addressed with changes in local zoning to reduce the regulatory and permitting process, not with the state using tax dollars.
“I think the best thing municipalities can do is relax zoning,” he said.
Stone also said communities need to be careful about what they allow for housing. He said the affordable housing project of 172 units off Washington Street now under consideration by the Zoning Board of Adjustment would burden the schools and become a “drain” on public and administrative services. “It is not designed to help Claremont.”
Stone agrees with putting the brakes on allowing large-scale data centers in New Hampshire until there is more information and study. “Is this really a good time to focus on doing that when we are struggling with high electric rates?” Stone asked. “I think we need to look at our infrastructure and see what kind of support there is and the trickle-down effect. I don’t think our infrastructure can support it, so we need to be cautious.”
About his controversial past, in which he made violent threats against members of the Claremont Police Department when he was an officer 20 years ago, Stone said his numerous commendations and awards better represent his police career.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
