Attendees at a candidates’ forum in Francestown Wednesday heard from hopefuls for the District 8 Senate Hillsborough 27 House seats.

The forum was part of the Francestown Recreation Commission’s Speakers Series. Kevin Pobst, the author of several volumes of Francestown history moderated the event.

For the Senate, Democrat David Trumble of Weare is squaring off against Republican Ruth Ward of Stoddard, who is running for a fifth term. The district include Antrim, Bennington and Francestown.

Education funding was the basis of the first question posed to the candidates. 

“The state up to this point has done a pretty good job of it,” said Ward. “There are 30,000 fewer students in the state than 10 years ago, but costs keep rising.”

“The state provides only 30% of school funding,” said Trumble. “That’s why your property taxes are so high. Seventy percent of our district is suing the state because it’s not doing a good job. Restore the interest and dividends tax.”

Ward added that charter schools use funds more efficiently than their counterparts, and a follow-up question on Education Freedom Accounts also divided the candidates.

“EFAs involve no accountability on how the funds are spent,” said Trumble. 

“I’m all for school choice,” said Ward, adding that a good way to address low standardized test scores in the district would be with intense tutoring of students. 

On abortion, Ward said, “To use abortion as birth control is the worst thing you can do. Trumble disagreed, saying, “We should put the right to an abortion into New Hampshire law.”

Trumble lamented the amount of solar-powered energy generated in New Hampshire.

“We get 1% of our electricity from solar – other states get more.” The Solar Energy Industries Association’s website stated that in 2023,1.84% of in-state generated energy was solar, compared to 12% in Maine and 18% in Vermont. 

“You can’t use solar and wind efficiently,” said Ward. Turning her attention to climate change in general, she said, “Scaring people that sea levels are going to rise is hyperbole,” she said.

Immigration is another issue where the differences between Ward and Trumble were clear. 

“Undocumented immigrants do jobs others won’t do,” Trumble said. “They make up 2% of the construction workforce. We shouldn't be discriminating against them.”

“We have to keep people from coming here illegally,” said Ward.

When asked about the availability of housing in New Hampshire, Ward said that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has signed a number of bills that have supported housing creation and affordability in the Granite State. Trumble suggested that greater use of accessory dwelling units and zoning that would permit cluster housing for seniors would help to address the issue. He cited a CNBC study from July that ranked New Hampshire 48th among states in terms of competitiveness.  

“Why?” he asked. “People can’t get housing.”

Asked whether sanctuary cities were a good idea, Ward was clear. “No, they are not,” she said. “Many people in them are criminals.” Trumble pushed back on this point, prompting Ward to add, “I didn’t say all immigrants are criminals, but many of them are.”

Trumble reiterated his support for reinstating the interest and dividends tax, which will end at the end of the year, when asked about overall revenues for the state.

“Only 2.5% of the people in the state pay it,” he said. “We have to decide: are we a ‘me’ society, or a ‘we’ society?”

Ward said that her work is not finished in Concord, which is why she is running for a fifth term in the Senate.

Murphy, Kane face off in Hillsborough 27

Republican business veteran Mary Murphy and Democratic management consultant Susan Kane are vying for the open House seat from Hillsborough 27, which represents Francestown. Asked about solutions to the housing shortage in New Hampshire, Murphy said that local planning boards, employers and the state should collaborate to solve the problem.

Kane echoed Trumble on this matter.

“We need to invest in cluster housing,” she said. 

On abortion, Kane said, “I have granddaughters. They’re going to grow up with fewer rights than I had,” referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision which stated that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.

“There’s a law in place with reasonable accommodations,” said Murphy. “I’ll turn my attention to problems that haven’t been solved.”

New Hampshire law currently allows abortion up to 24 weeks in a pregnancy with exceptions for fatal fetal diagnoses and danger to the life of the pregnant person. It also requires parental notification in the cases of minors. 

Murphy suggested looking for places to cut budgets when asked about finding money for education.

“There are 105 SAUs in the state,” she said. “Take a knife to them and get it down to a reasonable level.”

On the issue of Education Freedom Accounts, Murphy said the program saved the state $9 million in 2023.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s a wildly successful program,” Murphy said.

“We give $1,000 more to the average EFA than per child funding for public schools,” Kane said.

The state spent an average of $5,255 per student with EFAs in 2023. The previous year, New Hampshire paid $3,699 toward individual student costs, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. 

To a question on energy costs, Kane suggested that Eversource’s control of rates should be reined in.

“We need to end the Republican leniency on Eversource,” she said. 

Murphy advocated using the most-efficient mix of energy sources.

The candidates offered divergent views on legalizing marijuana. Murphy referenced an acquaintance from her college days who had a very negative experience with a marijuana-laced brownie in explaining in part why she would not support legalization.

“Today’s pot is much stronger,” she said, adding that “Maine will never see the revenue it projected to gain from legalizing pot.”

A 2023 report by the state of Maine stated that retail sales in the state were up 96% from 2021 to 2022.

Kane said that without legalized marijuana,  New Hampshire is losing money to other states.

“Our people are taking $150 million to our neighbors,” she said. “If we had that revenue, from it, we could protect the kids.” She added that mental health counseling and workforce housing could also be funded by legalizing cannabis.

“We got to be better about respecting individual rights and freedoms,” said Kane when asked about laws guarding against discrimination in employment.

“We have laws that protect gender discrimination,” said Murphy. “Other than that, I don’t know that there’s a need.”

On the environment, both candidates endorsed the use of alternatives to fossil fuels as energy sources.

“Mary and I want many of the same things for New Hampshire,” Kane said as the two shook hands outside the Town Hall. “We just want to get there in different ways.”