Context needed
A recent letter here praised Peterborough and Sharon’s State Representative Jonah Wheeler, a Democrat, for not voting in lockstep with his party.
Context is needed.
The current New Hampshire House of Representatives is controlled by a Republican majority made up of Free Staters and Libertarians whose goal is taking over New Hampshire (no zoning, no taxes, no to our public schools, to childhood vaccines; a big yes to guns).
Jonah voted with that majority 25% of the time.
His anti-gun-control and anti-childhood-vaccine votes stand out.
Guns: Jonah has voted against 14 gun-control bills in four years, including one to ban guns in safe-school zones and one to ban guns at polling places.
Vaccines: Jonah voted for HB575 (2023 ) that essentially would prohibit New Hampshire from distributing COVID vaccines. He voted five other times to weaken childhood vaccine requirements – in lockstep with Republican anti-vaxers.
Bill HB679 (2025) would prohibit requiring a childhood vaccine unless it’s been clinically proven to prevent disease transmission from one person to another. Yes, a totally wacky, impossible condition.
State representatives (400) are elected every two years and represent a much, much smaller population than the 24 state senators. Elected every six years, they are not as in touch with their voters.
This is intentional: Representatives are to represent and be answerable to their voters as the title “representative” makes clear.
Jonah is not a Free Stater. He supports our public schools, zoning, and knows climate change is not a “hoax.” He’s good company.
And – his votes on guns and vaccines deserve attention. Please consider voting for write-in candidate Amanda Allen and our longtime representative Peter Leishman. Do some homework. Search online: “Amanda Allen for state rep” (Google groups). She’s impressive.