New Hampshire Election News: Executive Council Seats Up For Grabs

From InDepth NH:

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire has a unique, five-member Executive Council that confirms the governor’s nominations to the courts and state department heads and approves or rejects state contracts.

Read the full list of Executive Council Full list of duties here.

Currently, Democrats outnumber Republicans on the council 3-2. All five seats are up for grabs this fall. The five seats are broken up geographically with District 1 the northern half of the state, District 2 in the Concord Area, District 3 in the Seacoast, District four in the Manchester area, and District 5 in the Nashua area.

Two incumbents are not running for re-election: District 3 Executive Councilor Russell Prescott, a Republican, has decided to step aside at the end of his term and District 2 Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky of Concord is running for governor as a Democrat, facing state Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord in the primary.

There will be four contested Republican races for Executive Council Sept. 8 and three contested Democratic races for Executive Council that same day.

District 1

Incumbent Mike Cryans in uncontested in the primary but will face either Republican Joseph Kenney or Kim Strathdee after the primary. Kenney previously held the post after the death of longtime Executive Councilor Ray Burton, a Bath Republican.

District 2

A crowded field is running to replace Volinsky. On the Republican side, Jim Beard and Stewart Levenson will face off in the primary and on the Democratic side, there are six candidates. They are Leah Plunkett, John Shea, Emmett Soldati, Jay Surdukowski, Craig Thompson, and Cinde Warmington. Independent Joanne Martin of Concord is also running.

District 3,

For the open District 3 seat, Democrats Mindi Messmer and Pat Lovejoy will vie for the nomination while on the Republican side is Timothy Comerford, Bruce Crochetiere, and Janet Stevens.

District 4

In District 4, incumbent Ted Gatsas, a Manchester Republican, is unopposed but will face one of three candidates on the Democratic side. They are Kolawole Ernest Adewumi, Jerome Duval, and Mark S. MacKenzie.

District 5

Incumbent Debora Pignatelli of Nashua, a Democrat, is unopposed in District 5 but will face a Republican, either former councilor Dave Wheeler or former State Sen. Bob Clegg in the general election.

For more on the background of each of these candidates visit Ballotpedia.org.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.