Long-Time Democrat Activist Helms Backs Biden

CONCORD, NH — Ned Helms, a long-time Democrat activist in the state of New Hampshire, has thrown his first-in-the-nation support to former Vice President Joe Biden, D-DE. He announced his support for the effort earlier today and the campaign says it's excited to receive his backing. Helms is the former commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, a former administrative officer with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Hampshire, and also a consultant on health policy since the early 1980s.

Helms is also the founder of the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice at UNH and spent many years studying health and tech policy in the state. He also served on the inaugural board for the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and on a health care study committee for the Obama Administration in 2011.

Politically, Helms is a former chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, and previously backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, Barack Obama in 2008, Gary Hart in 1984, and U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey, R-CA, in 1972, who challenged President Richard Nixon in the primary that year, according to reports online. Helms was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1992, being bested by Arnie Arnesen, who hosts a talk show on WNHN.

Helms joins other political luminaries such as former Gov. John Lynch, former U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, former Supreme Court Justice John Broderick, and others in backing the former vice president.

Biden, the campaign noted, will be back in the state on Friday to meet with New Hampshire Young Democrats at the Cisco Brewery in Portsmouth at a "Red, White & BBQ" event at 6 p.m.

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