Primary races in executive council, state House draw Sullivan County voters
Two Republican primaries will shape who represents Sullivan County in Concord, including a Newport-to-Plymouth race for Executive Council District 2. Claremont and Sunapee voters also have a contested House race.
Sullivan County voters face a thin Sept. 8 primary ballot, but two Republican races will decide who carries local priorities into Concord. One is the Executive Council District 2 contest between Tobin Menard of Newport and Kim Strathdee of Plymouth, and the other is a three-way GOP primary for two state House seats in District 8.
Executive Council District 2 covers the entire Upper Valley and reaches from Littleton south along the Connecticut River to the Massachusetts border, with additional territory in Merrimack and Hillsborough counties. The winner will join the November ballot against incumbent Democratic Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon and independent John Rutherford of Grantham. Hill took office Jan. 8, 2025, after 19 years on the Lebanon City Council and a term as mayor from 2008 to 2009, and her current term runs until Jan. 6, 2027.
The council race matters because the five-member Executive Council approves most state expenditures, oversees spending by state departments and agencies, signs off on many gubernatorial appointments and manages the state’s 10-year Highway Plan. For voters in the district, that makes the seat one of the clearest levers for deciding how state money and appointments affect the region.
District 8 is the Sullivan County race with the most direct local reach. Three Republicans, Catherine Peschke of Croydon, Jon Stone of Claremont and Sebastian Zyzdorf of Goshen, are competing for two seats in the primary. The district includes Claremont, Croydon, Springfield and Sunapee, and the top two finishers will challenge incumbent Democrat Hope Damon of Croydon and Samuel Deering of Washington in November. New Hampshire House members serve two-year terms and face no term limits.
The filing window for state, federal and county offices ran from June 3 through June 12, with candidates required to file in person on the final day. Secretary of State David Scanlan’s office was still receiving some filings by mail after the deadline because of postal submissions, a reminder that the ballot was still taking shape even as the primary calendar moved toward Sept. 8 and the general election on Nov. 3.
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