Urrutia To Shaheen: 'Meet The Moment' Or Move Aside In 1st Congressional District Race

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Christian Urrutia has issues with Stefany Shaheen.

Literally.

During an NHJournal podcast interview on Thursday, the NH-01 Democratic primary candidate pointed out that Shaheen — daughter of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen — “doesn’t even have an ‘issues’ page. I don’t understand that.”

A review of Shaheen’s campaign web page confirms Urrutia’s claim.

Urrutia accused Shaheen of running a campaign based on avoiding contentious issues or making tough calls.

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“I think that type of campaigning is cautious, safe campaigning,” Urrutia said. “That won’t meet the moment.”

And, he believes, her approach is giving him an advantage.

“I’m convinced that there are enough voters in New Hampshire who are saying, ‘I want something different. I want something bold. I want someone to fight for me.’ And when they hear my message, and they see what I’ve done with my life, and the way I would go out to Washington, they’ll be attracted to that.”

Urrutia is currently polling in the low single digits, behind Shaheen and other candidates in the race, like state Rep. Heath Howard (D-Strafford) and Obama administration veteran Maura Sullivan. But he says there’s a different number in early polling that’s the important one.

“The leading candidate in this race is undecided. And yet, everyone knows the Shaheen name,” Urrutia said.

“I’m 41 years old. I’m going to turn 42 soon. My whole life, basically, there has been a Shaheen in office. When I look at the polls, I see people are saying, ‘OK, I know that name.’ And some people are just going to say, ‘I know that name, therefore, that’s it.’

“But the vast majority of people are saying, ‘I want something different.’ Who is it? My pitch to the voters is that you’ve got to vote for someone you think is actually going to fight for you.”

Urrutia, a lawyer and New Hampshire Army National Guard judge advocate, describes himself as “an economic progressive,” and used the interview to preview policy positions he said Democrats should champion more aggressively.

On healthcare, Urrutia said he supports moving the country “in the direction of Medicare for all,” while acknowledging it would not happen immediately. He advocated starting with a public option that would allow people to buy into Medicare, then expanding coverage more broadly over time. Urrutia also said he is not seeking to eliminate private insurance entirely, arguing people should be free to supplement coverage.

Asked why voters should trust the government to run their healthcare system, Urrutia said Medicare offers “a proof of concept.”

“The government is operating it right now. It’s working relatively well,” he said.

On housing, Urrutia said Washington can play a role by incentivizing local communities to streamline zoning rules and increase supply, including starter homes. He also supported creating tools to lower financing costs and encourage new construction, arguing the country is millions of homes short and building too few entry-level properties.

“We should incentivize builders” to build starter homes, he said, noting that roughly 30 percent of new homes were once starter homes, compared to about 7 percent today, according to his account.

Urrutia also criticized private equity firms buying single-family homes, arguing that large investors can outbid individual buyers and reduce opportunities for families to build equity through homeownership.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas voted against the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and a government-issued photo ID to vote in those elections. Polls show Americans overwhelmingly support those policies, but Urrutia said he would have voted with Pappas.

“In the abstract, someone can look at that and say, ‘That sounds perfectly reasonable.’ But in practice, what we know is it makes it harder for people to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” Urrutia said.

Democrats Sarah Chadzynski and Karleigh Beriont are also seeking their party’s nomination to replace Pappas, but Urrutia has focused his fire on Shaheen. After news broke that Shaheen’s boss, inventor Dean Kamen, had a far closer relationship with notorious child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein than previously disclosed, Urrutia said she needed to “come clean.”

Until January, Shaheen had served as chief strategy officer at Kamen’s Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) for nearly a decade, earning a six-figure salary.

“Stefany Shaheen has failed to answer basic and legitimate questions about whether or not, as the chief strategy officer of ARMI, she advised Dean Kamen on misleading public statements about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Urrutia said.

In a press release Thursday, Urrutia focused on the ethical questions surrounding ARMI’s funding, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s role in procuring it, and how the money directly benefited her daughter.

“ARMI receives more than 90 percent of its funding through federal contracts and grants. During the nearly decade that Stefany Shaheen served as a member of ARMI’s 10-person leadership team, was she involved in efforts to obtain federal funding, contracts, grants, or other monies to benefit ARMI?” Urrutia asked.

And what about Stefany Shaheen’s “scope of responsibilities” as chief strategy officer — a position she held as an independent contractor, not an employee?

“As an independent contractor, Stefany Shaheen would have had one or more agreements with ARMI to deliver services and receive compensation. Will she now produce those contracts?”

Asked what message resonates most with voters, Urrutia said it isn’t a single “hoot and holler” applause line, but a question he says lands emotionally: whether people in today’s America can still “get a fair shake.”

“I ask myself this question a lot: If my parents were starting out today in this America, or if I was, would I get a fair shake?” Urrutia said. “Then I ask them … your loved ones, your kids — would they get a fair shake?”

Urrutia’s campaign website is urrutiafornh.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.