Jackie Cilley endorses Democratic Leader Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook) for NH Speaker of the House

(Concord - September 2nd, 2016) With Democrats poised to make great gains in the New Hampshire, former senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jackie Cilley has endorsed current Democratic House Leader Steve Shurtleff for Speaker of the New Hampshire House.

"In the current term with Steve serving as our House leader, I have seen the way that he works to reach consensus, how effectively he managed the crisis in leadership that the Republicans engineered at the beginning of the session, and how effectively he used the relationship that gave him with Speaker Jasper to advance Democratic priorities," Rep. Cilley said, adding "Without his efforts, it's hard to imagine how we would have protected Medicaid expansion."

Seacoast pundit William Tucker has predicted a Democratic majority of 221 after the November election using a predictive model based on aggregated polling and analysis of the partisan make-up of New Hampshire's 204 House districts. Tucker's model predicted an outcome of 156 Democrats elected in 2014, closely tracking the eventual outcome of 160. The Speaker is elected by the House, typically by a majority of the party who has elected the most members. Mr. Shurtleff was elected Democratic Leader by their caucus in November 2014.

“It is difficult, when your party is in the minority, to achieve big goals,” Cilley went on to say. “I expect that through Steve’s leadership in electing more Democrats to the upcoming term, we will see him offer a progressive vision that moves New Hampshire forward to meet the challenges we face.”