Add two names to the list of Democrats running or considering running in the 1st Congressional District primary.
Hampton select board member, Carleigh Beriont, has joined the Democratic primary race in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, and Dover State Rep. Alice Wade has formed an exploratory committee.
Both are positioning themselves as political outsiders in a field that already includes Stefany Shaheen, former Portsmouth City Councilor and daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and state Democratic Party Vice Chairman Maura Sullivan, also of Portsmouth.
“I’m running for Congress because — Why not? Regular people deserve a seat at the table, too. I’m a mom, a local leader, and a fighter. I know what our families are going through, because I live it too,” Beriont said.
“People are hungry for something different, not more consultant packaged talking points or politically convenient choices, but real leadership grounded in lived experience and a willingness to stand up and fight for what is right,” Wade said.
Beriont, 36 is a native of Red Bank, New Jersey, who moved to New Hampshire in 2016. She holds a doctorate from Harvard, and teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She was involved in efforts to unionize graduate student workers at Harvard, and says her academic focus is on “the interaction of public policy, religion and history.”
Wade is 23, and works as an aerospace engineer. She’s now serving in her first term in Concord, and is openly transgender.
The race for the 1st District is wide-open, after four-term U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat that Jeanne Shaheen will retire from next year.
Several Republicans are also eyeing runs in the 1st District, including Chris Bright, a businessman and veteran who ran in the 2024 GOP primary and finished in fourth place, andManchester Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur, who finished third.
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These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
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