The following perspective comes via an opinion piece, “New Hampshire changed on Tuesday, but how much?” by Dana Wormald …
There are a lot of areas for cooperation between the Legislature and the governor’s office, and I suspect that a majority of New Hampshire residents would like to see plenty of it.
Despite [Gov. Kelly] Ayotte’s narrow and rigid perception of what gives New Hampshire its imagined advantage over New England neighbors, she seems sincere in her desire to ease housing and childcare burdens, and each is a good place to start in a budget year. If U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders can envision avenues of cooperation with President Donald Trump, I’m confident Democratic leaders in New Hampshire can find common ground with the more moderate Ayotte.
They will, of course, have to go around her at times, and they’re already eyeing a couple of spots to do just that. Cannabis should be legal in a state that has no moral qualms about promoting gambling and lining its highways with liquor stores, and so Democrats should force the issue.
And this recap analysis is from “After staggering legislative upset, Democrats and Republicans process a new reality in Concord” by Ethan DeWitte …
[Rep. Alissandra] Murray, a longtime member of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, has some specific ideas of what Democrats can aim for with their new majorities. Murray hopes to reverse a recent Republican law allowing landlords to evict tenants without a specific cause, advance LGBTQ+ protections, push for more aggressive housing, and potentially restore the interest and dividends tax, which Republicans repealed in 2021.
The Democratic majorities could also give Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans a long-sought goal, Murray says: a cannabis legalization bill that can survive Ayotte’s veto.
“I see a lot of us really going to bat for that,” Murray said. “And I know that she’s not interested in having that conversation, but we’re going to bring it to her because that’s what the people want us to do.”
These excerpts were reprinted from the New Hampshire Bulletin under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the full original versions here.
