Weare State Rep. Censure Vote Heading To House Over Anti-Semitic Comments

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH

CONCORD, NH — Lawmakers in Concord will soon be asked to discipline Rep. Travis Corcoran (R-Weare) for his anti-Semitic and racist tweets after the House Legislative Administration Committee voted 10-2 on Wednesday in favor of censure.

The mostly bipartisan vote in favor of censure found Republicans and Democrats in agreement that Corcoran’s unrepentant comments crossed a serious line. Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack) got emotional when talking about her father, who helped liberate the Dachau Concentration Camp during World War II.

“He rarely spoke of it. But he did say, ‘They were so hungry. We fed them, and they died,’” Notter said. “He became angry when he encountered Holocaust denial. Because he had seen the truth with his own eyes."

Using his high-profile Twitter account, Corcoran targeted Jewish House member Rep. Jessica Grill (D-Manchester) earlier this year, writing “We need a final solution for theater kids in politics.”

The week before he attacked Grill, Corcoran targeted Rep. Luz Bay (D-Dover) on Twitter/X, asking Trump Administration official Stephen Miller to have Bay deported. Bay is an American citizen who was born in the Philippines.

Corcoran has yet to apologize for his comments, and recently called the committee a “kangaroo court” engaged in “performative politics.”

The two dissenting censure votes came from Rep. Len Turcotte (R-Barrington) and Rep. Kevin Verville (R-Deerfield.) Turcotte echoed many of Corcoran’s comments, saying the disciplinary efforts were akin to “mob mentality” and a “pig pile.” He went further and blamed Grill and others for creating the problem by responding to Corcoran’s racism and anti-Semitism.

“No one is forcing anybody to read this rep's post. I'd never have, for the record. If you read them, and dislike them, or get offended, but don't respond or engage. If you do, in my opinion, you're part of the problem, because you're only prolonging it,” Turcotte said.

At the recent hearing, Grill explained the use of the term “Final Solution” is a call to violence against Jewish people. The Final Solution is the Nazi term for the extermination of all Jewish people. Nazi Germany murdered at least 6 million European Jews in the death camps during World War II.

“As a Jewish lawmaker, the use of this phrase, ‘Final Solution’ is especially disturbing. It is not vague or thoughtless. It is not a poorly worded joke. It is targeted language with a specific historical meaning,” Grill said. “He knows what those words mean, and given his insistence that he wasn't joking, I think, frankly, we have every reason to take him at his word.”

Verville, who was himself reprimanded by the House in 2020 for refusing to engage in anti-harassment training, said he might still vote to censure Corcoran, but thought the Legislative Committee is the wrong body to advance the measure. As for Corcoran, Verville expressed hesitancy to discipline him for the remarks. Censuring Corcoran might drive other anti-Semitic House members to hide their views.

“So [the other anti-Semites] act covertly, and you don't know what they're up to. [Rep.] Corcoran, God bless him, he throws it all right out there on the table, so you can point to him and look him in the eye and know him for what he is,” Verville said.

The censure procedure requires the full House to publicly debate on Corcoran’s behavior and then vote. Corcoran will be expected to be in attendance, and he will be able to take part in the debate, according to House Clerk Paul Smith. A vote to censure won’t have any real impact on Corcoran’s work in Concord, as it does not carry sanctions on his legislative privileges or committee assignments.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.