{"id":2780,"date":"2026-06-15T14:33:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:33:50","slug":"down-to-the-wire-filing-period-closes-with-last-minute-candidate-for-n-h-legislative-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780","title":{"rendered":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>CONCORD, N.H. \u2014 The clock on the wall inside the secretary of state\u2019s office said 4:57 p.m. on Friday. Three minutes until the deadline for federal, state, and county candidates to file for this fall\u2019s midterm elections in New Hampshire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2778\">Elon Musk, trillionaire and avatar of the AI Gilded Age<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s when Brok Woodward-Griffith of Manchester arrived. He said he decided \u201ckind of on a lark\u201d to sign up as a last-minute Democratic candidate for the New Hampshire Senate. But just before he stepped into the office to file his paperwork, a brief conversation in the hallway changed his mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A party operative informed Woodward-Griffith that the Democrats already had a candidate, Leonard Bell, lined up to challenge Republican incumbent Senator Victoria Sullivan in Manchester. He could still run for Senate if he wished. Or he could instead seek a seat in the New Hampshire House. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get N.H. Morning Report<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Woodward-Griffith, a first-time candidate, said he was glad to take the suggestion. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI hadn\u2019t really fully thought out even a campaign message for myself yet,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to make sure at least someone was running, and then I was going to figure it out as I went.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He spent about two minutes filling out paperwork in the secretary of state\u2019s office before realizing he would have to start over. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI guess I brought the wrong form,\u201d he said, with about 30 seconds to go before the deadline. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2776\">Fox to buy streaming pioneer Roku in a $22 billion deal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Staffers in the office gave him the correct form at 5 p.m., allowed him to spend a few minutes filling it out, then accepted his $2 filing fee \u2014 a scene that underscored the low barrier to entry for those aspiring to join New Hampshire\u2019s all-volunteer \u201ccitizen legislature,\u201d which pays members a mere $100 per year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Woodward-Griffith is up against Mary Freitas, Mark Grigoriev, and incumbent Patrick N. Long in the Democratic primary for two House seats in Hillsborough County District 26, which covers Manchester Ward 7. Just one candidate, Henry Emele, signed up for the Republican primary in that district.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While some state legislative primaries are contested, others have no candidates competing at all. In those situations, party leaders have a brief window to slot people into vacancies on the ballot. In recent years, that window closed on the Wednesday after the filing period; however, Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte signed legislation last week giving them 10 business days to complete this process. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here\u2019s how candidate filings shook out for New Hampshire\u2019s three highest-profile 2026 races:<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>US Senate<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span><b>Ones to watch: <\/b>John E. Sununu and Scott Brown in the Republican primary, Chris Pappas and Karishma Manzur in the Democratic primary. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><b>Lesser-knowns:<\/b> Six other GOP candidates (Tom Alciere, Sky Danley, Andy Martin, Mary Maxwell, Richard A. McMenamon II, and Sabrina Ann Smith), and three other Democratic candidates (David Jarvis, Maxwell L. Saal, and John Vail). <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><b>Of interest: <\/b>Jared Sullivan, who previously announced a Democratic bid for US Senate, opted to seek reelection to the New Hampshire House instead. Aaron Day, who ran as an independent in 2016 and claims to have filed again for the 2026 race, doesn\u2019t appear on the state\u2019s candidate lists. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>First Congressional District<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span><b>Democrats: <\/b>Stefany Shaheen, Maura Sullivan, Christian Urrutia, Heath Howard, Carleigh Beriont, Sarah Chadzynski, Bill Conlin, Matthew Emerson, and Sarah Bella Spinosa. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><b>Republicans: <\/b>Anthony DiLorenzo, Hollie Noveletsky, Melissa Bailey, Brian Cole, Lindsey Anderson, and Michael Anthony Callis.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>Governor<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span><b>Ones to watch:<\/b> Cinde Warmington, the only candidate who filed for the Democratic primary, is Ayotte\u2019s most prominent challenger. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><b>Lesser-knowns:<\/b> Besides Ayotte, two other GOP candidates, Shaun Fife and Bob Wayne McClory, are competing in the Sept. 8 primary. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><b>Of interest: <\/b>Four independent candidates (Jon Kiper, Stephen Villee, John Horsley, and Everett Howard) have until Aug. 5 to submit their signed nomination papers to appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span><i>This story appears in Globe NH | Morning Report, a free email newsletter focused on New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles elsewhere. <\/i><i>Sign up here.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2774\">Rhode Island is about to see a massive political reshuffling<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The clock on the wall inside the secretary of state\u2019s office said 4:57 p.m.: Three minutes until the deadline for federal, state, and county candidates to file for this fall\u2019s midterm elections in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The clock on the wall inside the secretary of state\u2019s office said 4:57 p.m.: Three minutes until the deadline for federal, state, and county candidates to file for this fall\u2019s midterm elections in New Hampshire.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"headline\":\"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780\"},\"wordCount\":726,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780\",\"name\":\"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=2780#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Boston Relocation Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider","og_description":"The clock on the wall inside the secretary of state\u2019s office said 4:57 p.m.: Three minutes until the deadline for federal, state, and county candidates to file for this fall\u2019s midterm elections in New Hampshire.","og_url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780","og_site_name":"Boston Relocation Insider","article_published_time":"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"headline":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race","datePublished":"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780"},"wordCount":726,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780","name":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race - Boston Relocation Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-15T14:33:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/650889ef2247db3a6182a107884353dc.avif","width":1440,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2780#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Down to the wire: Filing period closes with last-minute candidate for N.H. legislative race"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/","name":"Boston Relocation Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}