Republican McGough Stripped Of Senate Committee Assignments Amid Allegations Of Harassment

By Damien Fisher and Michael Graham, NH Journal

After months of internal turmoil and staff complaints of harassment, state Sen. Tim McGough (R-Merrimack) has been removed from his committee assignments by Senate President Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry).

It’s the latest development in a story that’s been unfolding behind the scenes in the upper chamber, as both his colleagues and Senate staff have found the Merrimack Republican difficult to work with.

On Wednesday, McGough’s name had disappeared from the official websites of both the Commerce and the Executive Department and Administration committees. McGough had already been stripped of his staff — the only member of the state Senate to be denied staff support — reportedly due to his treatment of assigned staffers.

“He’s just an arrogant jerk,” one Republican State House source told NHJournal.

Commerce Chair Sen. Dan Innis (R-Bradford) told NHJournal he was informed about McGough’s removal via a letter from Carson’s office delivered Wednesday afternoon.

“I don’t know why, or what’s behind it,” Innis said.

In February, McGough was quietly removed from his commission appointments. He had served on the Commission on the Environmental and Public Health Impacts of Perfluorinated Chemicals, the Committee on the Use of Dedicated Funds, and the Joint Committee on Employee Classifications.

However, he was still listed as the Chair of the Canadian Trade Council late Wednesday. He was elected chair in March 2025 after serving on the Council as a Representative in the previous biennium.

Multiple sources told NHJournal on background that McGough has previously been investigated for harassing Senate staff, and he has been ordered not to speak to staffers.

Contacted late Wednesday night, McGough first claimed he was unaware he had been removed from his committees. “That’s news to me.”

Asked if he was denying that it happened, McGough said, “I’m not saying that,” before adding, “To my knowledge, I have not been notified of being removed.”

However, he later reached out to NHJournal and said that the reporter’s questions prompted him to review his emails. He discovered that he had, in fact, been removed from his committee assignments.

McGough said that he was not given a reason why. Asked if he believed it was related to investigations into his treatment of senators and staff, McGough said he could only speculate.

“I think it’s politically motivated. That appears to be the style of our Senate leadership,” McGough said, referring to Carson. “If you speak the truth and stand up, you’re oppressed. I’m outspoken and principled.”

Even his critics agree that he’s outspoken. But not in a good way.

Later Wednesday evening, for example, McGough published a Facebook comment calling House Commerce Chairman John Hunt (R-Rindge) “unfit to serve the people of New Hampshire.” It was in response to claims by his wife, Rep. Julie Miles (R-Merrimack), that Hunt called her a ‘b****’.

“Stand up for what is right and Vote him out,” McGough added.

McGough is a first-term senator representing District 11, which includes Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, and Wilton. The district has ping-ponged between the two parties for years, with Democrat Shannon Chandley winning it from Republican incumbent Gary Daniels in 2018, losing it to him in 2020, defeating Daniels again in 2022, and then losing to McGough two years later.

Chandley has announced she’s running again in November.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.