Dan Feltes, Candidate For Governor Of NH

Dan Feltes

Age (as of Election Day)

41

Position Sought

Governor

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Family

Wife is Erin, daughters are Iris (3) and Josie (almost 2). Dogs are Franklin and Roosevelt

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

no

Education

Earned BA from University of Northern Iowa, a Masters of Public Policy from Georgetown University, and a law degree from the University of Iowa

Occupation

State Senator since 2014

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Senate Majority Leader and State Senator, District 15

Campaign website

danfeltesnh.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I grew up in a working-class family, my father worked in a furniture factory for his entire adult life and my mom had part-time jobs and worked nights while raising four kids. My parents fought hard to provide me and my siblings the opportunities to live a good life. The values they instilled in me–hard work, honesty, integrity, and looking out for people who are left out and left behind have motivated me my entire life. Those values led me to New Hampshire Legal Assistance because I firmly believe that working families are getting left out and left behind because too many laws are written behind closed doors to benefit the wealthy and the well connected. When I was a legal aid attorney I saw this first-hand that the laws weren’t written with working families in mind. That’s why I ran for the State Senate back in 2014 and why I’m running for Governor now to ensure that every Granite Stater has someone in their corner and someone who understands what they’re going through and who will fight for them.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue is how we get out of COVID recession in a way that looks out for working people and working families. How we get out of this COVID-19 mess and economic crisis will be a reflection of our values, a question of whose side are you on: Working people and working families, or corporate special interests and campaign contributors. During the last economic crisis, the Great Recession, I tried my best to help folks get back on their feet. I battled Wall Street banks foreclosing on homeowners all across New Hampshire. I fought for unemployment and health care for those who needed it most.

I was in the trenches in the relief and recovery efforts for ordinary folks. By clear contrast, during that same time, Governor Sununu was just gifted his family's ski resort. I worked with Granite Staters who too often had no one in the corner as a legal aid attorney. As a state senator, I helped secure the greatest education funding in state history, passed legislation to reduce prescription drug costs, and expanded access to health care to over 50,000 Granite Staters. This is about building a recovery effort that looks out for working people and working families and championing the issues that will help them; like paid family and medical leave, an increased minimum wage, the jobs of tomorrow in clean energy, in health care, in broadband, and in housing. This election is about building a bigger, better, and brighter future for everyone and ensuring that every Granite Stater knows that the person in the corner office has their best interest in mind and is looking at every issue through the lens of working families.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The difference between myself and the other candidates for governor is my background and my record of real accomplishments for working families. My father wasn’t governor, my brother wasn’t a U.S. Senator, I didn’t grow up in a family of politicians. My father worked in a furniture factory for his entire adult life and my mom had part-time jobs and worked nights while raising four kids. Right out of law school I had a choice, take a job as a corporate attorney or take a job with New Hampshire Legal Assistance; I chose legal aid. Unlike my primary opponent, who spent decades as a corporate lawyer, I’ve never represented a corporate client. I’ve spent my career fighting for New Hampshire families who have been left out and left behind. This next year is going to be hard. We need a Governor who has a record of getting real results. As your Senate majority leader, I helped craft a progressive budget that delivered the greatest increase in education funding in two decades. With revenue shortfalls, this next budget will be tough to navigate. In the state senate I expanded access to health care for over 50,000 Granite Staters, delivered prescription drug relief, and finally passed full day kindergarten. We have much more to do including, finally passing paid family and medical leave insurance, but my experience in the legislature and specific plans we’ve laid out in this campaign show that on day 1, I’ll be ready to step into the corner office and get results for working families.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

The single obstacle to meaningful and inclusive progress in New Hampshire is Governor Chris Sununu. His leadership has held us back from making critical progress on so many issues. Under Chris Sununu, we have the highest health care costs in the nation, skyrocketing prescription drug costs, rising property taxes, all while he’s been solely focused on even more corporate tax breaks. Instead of looking out for Granite Staters, Sununu has vetoed 79 pieces of legislation, 65 of which had bipartisan support. Legislation like COVID housing protections for renters and homeowners, insurance coverage for abortion health care serivces, common sense gun violence prevention legislaton, paid family and medical leave which would have been so critical for so many New Hampshire families. And right now when Granite Staters need guidance, Sununu has delivered chaos when it comes to reopening our schools. Instead of outlining clear public health guidelines, he downshifted all responsibility to local schools, just like Trump, and prioritized “flexibility” over safety. Sununu has called himself a “Trump guy through and through”, and has defended Trump throughout the impeachment inquiry, during his racist and violent rhetoric towards protestors, and while over 170,000 Americans have died due Trump’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis. In order to finally move New Hampshire forward for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected, we need to replace Chris Sununu in the corner office.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

As a parent to two amazing young daughters, Iris and Josie, I’m living first-hand many of the challenges facing working families in New Hampshire. For too many families the cost of child care is prohibitively expensive -- and in many rural areas of New Hampshire, there are no child care centers around. In New Hampshire, there are over 250,000 workers with no access to paid time off, and only 25% of the service industry have access to paid time off. For years I’ve led the efforts to establish paid family and medical leave insurance in New Hampshire because no one should be forced into the impossible situation of choosing between caring for someone they love and their job; moments with a new child or caring for a dying family member are not moments you can get back. Unfortunately, Governor Sununu has repeatedly called paid family and medical leave a “vacation” and at a partisan, political fundraiser last summer he auctioned off a copy of his veto of paid family leave, and the American flag and New Hampshire flag flown over the State House the day he vetoed paid family and medical leave insurance. As Governor, we will build an economy that works for working families.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

For almost a decade, including during the last economic crisis, the Great Recession, I worked as a legal aid attorney. Day in and day out I worked for people, who too often had no one in their corner. I didn’t have corporate clients. I only represented people. This experience helped me not only identify the flaws in the system that allowed working people to fall through the cracks, but it gives me the ability to know exactly how to help people and to understand where the cracks are. As a legal aid attorney, I fought to make sure people have access to the unemployment insurance they deserved and battled big Wall Street banks so they could stay in their homes. And for the last six years I’ve served as a state senator, including as majority leader, passing paid family and medical leave, expanding health care to 50,000 granite staters, protecting Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions, lowering prescription drug costs, and securing the greatest education funding in state history in the last budget. Balancing our state budget with reduced revenue is going to be challenging, but we can, and must, step in on day 1 and help everyday people.

The best advice ever shared with me was …

The best advice I ever got was from my mom. Growing up, she always told me and my siblings that “life is about showing up not sounding off”. It's one thing to talk about an issue, it’s another thing to actually do something about it and work hard to tackle it head on. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. It’s much harder to actually get in the fight and do something about it. I carry this advice with me now. It’s why when I see a problem I work to fix it and I show up to fight for the folks who need me instead of just talking about the challenges they're facing.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

When I talk about standing up for working people and working families, it’s deeply personal to me. I think about people like my parents who worked hard and did the very best they could. People like Carl and Pauline who saved up to buy the home of their dreams, but then the Great Recession hit, they lost their jobs, and were sent a foreclosure notice by a big Wall Street bank. People like John who had his heat cut off and kept his home warm in the winter by turning his oven on and opening the door. These are the people who I worked with as a legal aid attorney and who too often have no one in their corner. They never ask for a thing, but the system isn’t built for them to succeed. This is why this election is so important. The same people who fell through the cracks in the Great Recession are falling through the cracks now. But we can fix this. This election is about building a bigger, better, and brighter future for everyone.