Ward 10 Concord City Council Candidate Launches Write-In Effort

CONCORD, NH — Voters in Ward 10 just got another reason to go to the polls on Tuesday as a former city council candidate has launched a last-minute write-in effort to unseat the incumbent.

In an email on Tuesday, Joe Shoemaker, an unsuccessful candidate in the March 2019 special election, requested past supporters and others in the ward “fill in the bubble” with his name in Ward 10, against Zandra Rice Hawkins, the incumbent.

“Over the last couple weeks, I've heard an escalated cry for the return of a non-partisan voice on the city council in Ward 10,” he said. “It may come from the election signs still sitting in my garage from my run a couple of years ago or maybe it’s because the current representative just doesn't sit well with most of those I hear from in Ward 10. I have to agree on some of these points I've heard from friends and neighbors.”

Shoemaker said the focus of a city councilor should be “on the basics” — like budgeting, property tax bill, maintaining city services, and protection of parks and open space. Without calling her out by name in the email, he said Rice Hawkins, who is the executive director of Granite State Progress, a left-of-center statewide political organization, seems more focused on serving “special interest groups.” Shoemaker noted Rice Hawkins attempted to remove public input about an ordinance change, her proposal to change Columbus Day as a city holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day, without discussion or comment from anyone other than councilors. The proposal to change the holiday name without any input was roundly rejected by other members of the council.

“Did you want your opinion removed?,” he asked. “That is not how democracy works. When residents are put first and listened to, communities live up to their fullest potential. I simply want to represent us. The people of Ward 10.”

Back in March 2019, Shoemaker, the director of the NH Office of Professional Licensure & Certification, lost to Rice Hawkins by 102 votes. Rice Hawkins ran an organized campaign with the help of the Professional Firefighters of Concord Local 1045, New Hampshire Young Democrats, and outside organizations with no connection to the city, including the SEA/SEIU 1984, the state employee’s union, which made phone calls and assisted with get-out-the-vote operations. Her effort was one of the first in recent memory where partisan organizations became involved in Concord's historically non-partisan municipal election cycle.

Rice Hawkins, in a statement, said she was "proud of my record advocating for strong public services, good roads, economic development, clean energy, accessible recreational spaces, government transparency, and accountability," while also making sure Concord was "a strong, welcoming, and inclusive community for all of us."

As a councilor, she added, "I have worked hard on issues facing our district and city, from working to address neighborhood traffic issues, to making sure our roads are paved, to advocating for more resources for critical community priorities."

Rice Hawkins said she would never be afraid to speak up and make sure the city and its policies build toward a future everyone can be a part of and also, be proud of.

"My opponent is running because he opposes my work on police transparency and accountability and promoting Indigenous People’s Day," she said. "As a mother and a community leader, I know how important it is to address all of these issues so that my children, my children’s children, and your children can live in a world that embraces and celebrates everyone, and that we can all feel safe and valued in the community we live in."

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