Expanding the NHDP State Committee

The New Hampshire Democratic Party will be meeting at its State Convention tomorrow, and the subject of much debate and advocacy leading up to it has been a slate of amendments to the party’s constitution. The amendments were proposed by the NHDP’s Rules Committee and, among the proposed changes, the amendments receiving the most attention would add every Democratic town chair and every Democratic state representative to the State Committee, which is the body of people who vote on state party leadership.

Those not in favor of the changes have pointed to operational and logistical issues as one of the reasons to vote against the amendments, but the one argument that has been consistently offered as the primary reason to vote against the changes is the perceived issue of diminished power amongst certain constituency caucuses within the NHDP, namely Black, Latino, Asian, Stonewall (LGBTQ), and Young Dems. The argument is that the addition of more people will not track with the current diversity numbers within the NHDP.

The state results of the past few elections tell us that Democrats cannot concede any seat if we are to have any hope of winning back control of our state. We’ve lost the New Hampshire House, Senate, Executive Council, and Governor’s office in each of the last three elections. We don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing where we focus our efforts. We need to reach everyone, and the reality of living in a diversifying, but still racially homogenous state, is that adding all Democratic town chairs to the State Committee may very well reduce the percentage of diverse voices within it, but membership to the State Committee isn’t the only way to promote and uplift diversity.

I believe the NHDP has taken many positive steps towards diversity during my short time in #NHPolitics. I’ve seen strong support for the formation of the NH AAPI Democratic Caucus and the NH Democratic Latino Caucus, formal recognition of the contributions of diverse groups at large Democratic gatherings, party staff and leadership that checks every one of our diversity boxes, painstaking care to send a diverse group of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and, personally, the support for and belief in my campaign in 2024 to become NH’s first Asian state senator.

If the argument that more people will result in less diversity, the next logical question is do we trust our fellow New Hampshire Democrats? Democrats in every corner of the state have stayed in the fight and with this party despite waning national popularity, because we believe in standing up for what’s right and against the people using the government to bring violence against its own citizens. I believe in the Democrats who continue to do this difficult work in politically challenging areas of the state, and that they understand the importance of diverse leadership and the ways it can be supported while still focusing on winning elections in 2026.

We spend so much time and money trying to reach voters to tell them how important it is to vote, and now we have the opportunity to make it possible for the people who have already proven themselves to be invested in making change, to have a tangible stake in the process of fixing the problems in New Hampshire. We can show them that their voices matter in a more significant way than by simply just listening. It’s greater than the type of trust that can be earned over time. Every vote that must be earned is guaranteed accountability from state leadership to local leaders, which is the type of confidence every local leader must have in its state leadership, no matter how small their community is.

We’re working to regain the type of trust that wins elections and, before people outside of the party can trust us, we must show that we trust each other. I have already voted in favor of the amendments offered by the Rules Committee, and I hope that anyone who has a vote will do the same.