With background in political advocacy, newcomer running for NH’s 1st Congressional District

Sarah Chadzynski, a Democrat, is running for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. 

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) said in 2025 he intends to seek election to the United States Senate seat occupied by Jeanne Shaheen, who will retire. Since his announcement, a pool of candidates have thrown their hats in the ring for the eventual Democratic primary nomination. Chadzynski is one of them.

The Primary Election is Sept. 8, and the General Election is Nov. 3.

Chadzynski is from Lyndeborough — which is located within the Granite State's 2nd Congressional District — and has a varied professional background which includes work in education and international nonprofit organizations. She said she spent the last several years fighting for the people of Ukraine and is ready to take the fight back home.

Representatives to Congress can reside anywhere in their state, including outside their district, according to the Constitution.

She announced her candidacy in July, in front of the Strafford County Jail, where ICE detainees are held. She’ll compete for the 1st Congressional District against political heavyweights in the Granite State like Stefany Shaheen, a former city councilor from Portsmouth and also the sitting senator's daughter, and Maura Sullivan, vice chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

Chadzynski emphasized her willingness and ability to speak with all Granite Staters, whatever their party affiliation, and her desire to deliver changes at the federal level to create tangible improvements back home in New Hampshire.

“I think one of the things that I love about New Hampshire, and that my husband and I love about New Hampshire, and raising our three kids here, is that there is a true sense of realness, of grit, of community, of showing up as who you are. Not having to pretend to be somebody else,” Chadzynski said Friday afternoon, while making the rounds through the Lakes Region, which she said she considers a second home. “I love that, I love that authenticity, even if people disagree.”

“We need to keep that in focus, with all the divisiveness that’s happening right now,” she said. “Granite Staters stand by living free — that’s what we stand by. That means being able to speak our minds even if we disagree, that means upholding our constitutional values.”

Her background with respect to the workings of the federal government is significant. Chadzynski, across multiple organizations including Dattalion, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has worked to spread awareness of the realities of the war and to influence lawmakers on the Hill. She was the executive director of Dattalion.

“We were documenting war crimes and atrocities and getting eyewitness accounts, videos, images into the media as well as in front of decision makers,” she said.

“Through doing that work, I realized that I have an interesting perspective, because my grandmother is a Holocaust survivor,” she said, noting her grandmother was one of 800 people who survived the Łódź Ghetto in Poland. “I’ve literally stood on the edge of the grave she was forced to dig herself under Nazi order in the Jewish cemetery in Łódź, so I have a very close relationship and understanding of what war means, how it impacts family.”

Chadzynski said she sees a through-line, between the “shock that in this day and age, a sovereign nation was being invaded” in reference to Ukraine, and said she thinks it's a similar shock that Americans feel today regarding immigration enforcement actions taken by ICE.

“I’ve been defending democracy in Ukraine, I’ve been standing up to an authoritarian who is trying to invade a sovereign nation, I’ve been fighting Russian propaganda for years at this point. Where am I best served? Where can I serve our country the best?” she asked of her decision to enter the race.

She made the decision to announce her campaign in front of the Strafford County jail because she’s concerned about “the lack of alignment with our Constitution and the rights of the people that this administration is putting out,” and described ICE as a "paramilitary funded on our tax dollars that does not actually respect the Constitution.

“This is not about party,” she said. “This is not party politics, this is the basic foundations of our country.”

Asked what she meant specifically when using the term "fight," Chadzynski said she’s asked Congress to put legislation in place to outlaw “the Gestapo tactics” used by ICE, and said she would support the abolishment of the agency as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She also advocated for increased funding into the immigration court system.

Chadzynski also pointed to changes to policy and funding surrounding USAID and the State Department, which she described as tools of soft power to keep people in their home countries and reduce surges in immigration.

“We can put that money into actually operating on the border, and doing a better job with welcoming immigrants into our communities in the appropriate way. Which also means we need real immigration reform,” she said. “That’s legislation that needs to happen.”

Other priorities of hers are health care reform and general affordability, she said, and her responsibility would be to deliver for Granite Staters, for District 1 and for Americans.

“The Lakes Region is like a second home for me, coming up here is second nature, and being in the community is really important and special to me,” she said. “We are a Harley riding, gun-owning, hunting, Democratic family. We believe in freedoms, we believe in fair, sensible gun laws and I believe in showing up for people.”