The Steve Marchand Podcast

One of the most experienced and respected legislators in New Hampshire 400-member House, 23-term State Representative Mary Jane Wallner (D-Concord) has seen it all. She's been the Majority Leader, served under Democratic *and* GOP trifectas, and earned bipartisan respect along the way. MJ was *also* the Executive Director of one of Concord's best-known child care centers, serving as ED for...

New Hampshire State Representative Anita Burroughs has seen a lot during her four terms in the NH House, going back to her upset win vs. former Speaker of the House Gene Chandler in 2018. In the 7+ years since then, Burroughs has become a well-respected member of the Commerce & Consumer Affairs Committee, able to thread the needle: Working well with Republicans while publicly calling out the p...

New Hampshire is one of 20 states that do not have a state minimum wage, and thus default to the federal minimum of $7.25/hour - a number hasn't changed in over 16 years . Of those 20 states, NH has the highest cost of living, and (along with PA) are the only states in the northeastern U.S. with no state-level minimum wage. Rep. Kathy Staub (D-Manchester) is the lead sponsor of a bill ( HB1484...

For our year-end episode, I brought on two good friends who are a generation younger than me: Emerson Doiron and Zach Nelson. We talked 2025 politics (NH and national), but then things careened wildly: Getting iced coffee at Dunkin' with Eric Swalwell during a snowstorm. How playing Oregon Trail on the one computer in the classroom in the early-to-mid 1980s made me afraid of...Oregon. How Vega...

Alexis Simpson is the Minority Leader of the New Hampshire House - and so much more. The veteran Democratic legislator from Exeter is an ordained minister with an academic background in physics, who originally came into state politics through her interest in sustainable farming (a particularly important topic in NH). This diverse (and, in some ways, unconventional) background for a political leade...

Christian Urrutia is a Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st district. It's an open seat, as current Rep. Chris Pappas (D-Manchester) is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Jeanne Shaheen. It's a competitive congressional seat (about D+2), and they don't come open often, so both sides of the aisle are engaged in sprawling primaries....

How do you know you're getting stuff done? When the NH House GOP files a frivolous "impeachment inquiry" bill to try to shut you up. We discussed that and much more with Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill during a recent Substack Live broadcast. Included in the discussion: Her first year as the only Democrat on the 4-1, GOP-led Executive Council has been quite eventful, with unusual...

Steve sat down with U.S. Senate candidate Karishma Manzur, a medical scientist with a Ph. D. in biochemistry and molecular biology. She spent over 20 years working on treatments for illnesses like epilepsy and depression, and has been active in progressive politics and advocacy on causes as diverse as campaign finance reform, rank choice voting, and New Hampshire Peace Action. In this episode, we...

Today, Tom and I did a Substack Live, which we turned into a podcast. We go back more than 20 years, and Tom (who is in his first term as a New Hampshire state legislator representing a Grafton County district in the Upper Valley) has truly done it all: He's been a teacher, then a journalist, then a high-level political communications operative in state and national races, then eventually a pa...

This is a recording of a Substack Live Analysis and Q&A done on Thursday, November 6th. On Wednesday night, the 5th, Steve rolled out his V1.0 of his 2026 New Hampshire House projections, focusing on which of the 400 House seats are most likely to determine whether Democrats can go from the 178 they won in 2024 to a majority in 2026. To watch a recording of the Projection Show, visit Steve&#39...

The role of unions in the politics of New Hampshire and the country is - like much of the two major parties' coalitions - in flux. Rich Gulla, who has been President of New Hampshire's largest (about 11,000 members) union, has led the State Employees' Association since 2014, and has seen a lot in the last 11 years. I learned a lot in this conversation from Rich: The generational divide...

Steve sat down with Shana Potvin & Nicole Bump for a recent Substack Live broadcast. Shana and Nicole have teamed up with Steve to create a new messaging program for New Hampshire's Democratic activists called "You Are the Media". It uses Shana's background in political psychology, Nicole's professional experience in marketing and communications, and Steve's background in politics and policy t...

Sarah Chadzynski is an educator and non-profit leader who has spent a lot of the last few years working on the human impact of Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine. She's now a candidate for the open congressional seat in New Hampshire's 1st district (being vacated by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026). I thought we'd spend more of this episode...

Heath Howard is the latest entrant in the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire First Congressional District. Howard, from Barrington, is in his second term in the New Hampshire House, representing a very purple district in Strafford County. He’s unusually young for a congressional candidate (he is 25), and for many voters, that may be an initial point of resistance. But...

Christian Urrutia is a Democratic candidate for New Hampshire's highly-competitive First Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Pappas (who is seeking to replace the retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in the US Senate in 2026). In what has become a crowded primary field, Urrutia is hoping to use a combination of an intriguing collection of life experiences (a successful attorney in...

On the 4th of July, we have today's conversation with Carleigh Beriont, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's open seat in the 1st district. Beriont, who is a professional educator and the Vice Chairwoman of the Hampton Select Board, is an intriguing new talent in this race to succeed Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas, who is leaving the seat to run for the U.S. Senate s...

Jon Kiper was a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2024, and he's back to run again in 2026, with a twist: He's running as an independent. Kiper, a restauranteur and former Town Councilor in Newmarket, surprised many with by getting almost 10% of the vote on a shoestring budget against two much better-known Democrats in 2024. He's focused like a laser on economics, especially housin...

Is the Freedom Caucus (with a lot of help from Free Staters) about to show Governor Ayotte who runs the NHGOP?

Matt is a longtime friend, and (among other things) was Chief of Staff for former Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH) - which is how I got to know him. He's managed congressional campaigns, worked in NH at the state level as a Democratic policy director, and much more. When he's not writing for Newsweek and other publications, he has a Substack, as well: Worth Knowing with Matt Robison. He had m...

New Hampshire State Rep. Alice Wade (D-Dover) joined us for a live broadcast to discuss her big news this week: She has filed an exploratory committee to run for the vacant congressional seat in NH-1. Wade is young (23 - but will be 25 in time for the state's September 2026 primary), but her education and career in aeronautic engineering come through as she talks about how she approaches legis...

For somebody barely in her mid-30s, Hanna Trudo has done a lot in national political media. Hanna has covered Democrats for five election cycles, and previously led coverage of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election as a reporter for The Daily Beast. She has written for The New Republic, Wired, Marie Claire, Foreign Policy, Politico, and National Journal. The NH native is now back home in...

Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern visited the show today. He's being rumored for various higher offices in 2026, and the second-term mayor of New Hampshire's most Democratic-performing city certainly has the skills - and now, the experience. We talked in depth about the state's biggest problems: Education funding, sky-high property taxes, and housing. We also compared notes on what it's like to b...

Garry is a legend in New Hampshire political journalism: In his 30+ years with Foster's Daily Democrat, The New Hampshire Union Leader, and now InDepthNH , Garry has seen it all. In today's episode, we get into the weeds about the Free Staters growing influence in NH politics (and legislative dominance in the NHGOP); then the road ahead on education funding in NH. We all know the problem: the Stat...