The Steve Marchand Podcast

Steve Marchand
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  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

Steve is a longtime political professional in New Hampshire whose worn about every hat you can: A former mayor and gubernatorial candidate who has managed races for governor, congress, NH's First in the Nation Primary, and every possible downballot race. He now uses his experience and analytics background to run his Democratic advocacy organization, Move The Goalposts, and authors a successful Substack, The Politics of New Hampshire. On this podcast, Steve talks state and national politics with politicians, operatives, journalists, and you.

  1. 4d ago

    E48: Carryl Roy & NH's Bellwether Senate District

    New Hampshire's State Senate District 12 may be my favorite downballot district in the entire state. (This is quite a statement, given that there are 203 House districts and 24 Senate districts in a state of 1.4 million people.) Located near the Massachusetts border, it's about an R+1 district that includes the "blue" suburban wards of Nashua; the very "purple" suburbs of Hollis and Brookline; and the quite "red" rural towns of New Ipswich, Greenville, Mason, and Rindge. In other words...it's a perfect microcosm of the state (and even the country). Carryl Roy is the Democratic nominee, seeking to replace longtime Republican incumbent Kevin Avard in what increasingly looks like a good year for Democrats. Roy is the chair of the Hollis School Board, but that's just the tip of the iceberg: She a cybersecurity professional, runs her own DJ company, is married with two tweeners in local public schools, and has run the Boston Marathon five times for charity. In this episode, Carryl's deep knowledge of local school budgets and policy, as well as the relationship between state education funding and high local property taxes. We talk about New Hampshire's unique system of structuring school districts...and the increasingly painful reliance of local property taxes to pay for schools (including special education). We end with a surprisingly emotional discussion about what running the iconic Boston Marathon several times to raise money for Dana Farber has meant to her and others. It's a great episode - learn more about Carryl's campaign at www.CarrylRoyForNH.com.

  2. Sep 23

    E47: Is Leonard Bell 2026's State Senate "Upset Special"?

    In the battle for New Hampshire's state senate, District 18 is oddly both one of the most competitive districts...and perhaps the most overlooked of 2026. It includes most of the south and southeastern wards of Manchester, plus the Republican-but-trending-purple town of Litchfield. After several terms in office, Senate Minority Leader Donna Soucy lost in 2024 to Republican Victoria Sullivan, a former State Representative and Manchester mayoral candidate. Sullivan has been high-profile supporter of the state's Education Freedom Accounts (a school voucher program), and is one of state Democrats' biggest antagonists. At the deadline this past June, Leonard Bell stepped up to run for the Democrats. Bell, after a 20+ year career in the Navy, settled into Manchester, where he completed his college studies at SNHU, is now a Career Advisor and Adjunct Professor at SNHU, and has been active civically. I met Leonard several weeks ago, and as you'll see from this conversation, he is a high-energy, optimistic, charismatic figure. A native of Pembroke, Kentucky who has spent time living in Louisiana, his drawl punctuates a rapid fire style of speaking on issues, life experiences, and a lifetime's commitment to service that clearly motivates him in this, his first run for political office. You can learn more at www.BellForNewHampshire.com. #nhpolitics #2026election #downballot

  3. Sep 16

    E46: Breaking: NH's Supreme Court Chief Justice Resigns

    On Tuesday, news broke that New Hampshire State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald was resigning, effective immediately. The real surprise, though, given that MacDonald was on an increasingly mysterious medical leave of absence, was the reason for his resignation: Three specific violations of the state's Code of Judicial Conduct involving improper personnel decisions surrounding Dianne Martin, his longtime aide. The consequences - to the perception of a Supreme Court beleaguered by several public black eyes in the last few years, to the state's politics seven weeks from a big midterm election, and to the Executive Council's role in confirming MacDonald's replacement - are significant. To that end, I brought on Lisa Kennedy Sheldon, the Democratic nominee in Executive Council District 3, to discuss what happened, and what it means going forward. #nhpolitics

  4. Aug 29

    E45: How NH's Transportation Plan Got Around Ayotte's Veto, w/Karen Liot Hill

    In an unexpected series of events earlier this summer, Governor Kelly Ayotte ignored rare bipartisan agreement on a major issue - updating New Hampshire's 10-year Transportation Improvement Plan - vetoing a bill that would have funded major projects on I-93, going right through two of the three biggest cities in the state (Manchester and Concord). She said she vetoed it because the plan included a toll increase (from $1 to $2) for out-of-state drivers going through the state's two major interstate highways, I-93 and I-95. Without the funding hundreds of millions of dollars of improvements would be stalled out. Fortunately, overwhelming majorities of both the NH House and Senate voted on August 19th to override the veto. But there were a lot of politics around the process - in some ways, a valuable microcosm to study of what NH politics in Concord looks like these days. Enter Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill. Hill, the lone Democrat on New Hampshire's powerful five-member Executive Council, as well as the former Mayor of Lebanon, was exactly the right person to bring on the show to understand the process, the politics, and the policies behind NH's transportation system. How are projects decided? How are they funded? How did we end up in this odd situation in the middle of a sleepy summer in Concord? And what does it tell us about politics in our state in 2026? #nhpolitics

  5. Aug 24

    E44: Melanie Levesque

    Melanie Levesque has been deeply involved in NH electoral politics for 20 years, starting with her 2006 flip of a State House seat in Brookline, through her 2018 victory in the State Senate, to her current run for the Executive Council against longtime incumbent David Wheeler. It's a rematch of 2024 - a much tougher year for downballot Democrats than 2026 is expected to be - when Wheeler prevailed by 6.9%. In this episode, we go through a wide range of topic, from education and the ten-year transportation, to how she will find those extra votes needed to flip the script against Wheeler in 2026, to her experiences growing up in Nashua as a Black person in a (then) overwhelmingly white community. You can learn more about her campaign at www.MelanieForNH.com. #nhpolitics

  6. Aug 5

    E43: Cinde Warmington

    Cinde Warmington is the presumptive Democratic nominee for New Hampshire Governor in 2026 - and she's got a better chance of pulling off the victory than you probably think. First-term incumbent GOP Governor Kelly Ayotte has kept a generally low-key demeanor while a much harder-charging, Free State Project-driven GOP House majority has been pushing the envelope in such areas as education vouchers and business tax cuts. For Ayotte, an electorate souring on the GOP's brand is making for an uncertain 2026 political environment: She's been below 50% job approval for much of her two-year term, and a recent poll by UNH shows Warmington within five points of Ayotte (44%-39%). In this episode, Steve and Cinde talk about everything from practical steps to get housing affordability under control, to the deep and personal pain her family has felt through battles with addiction. It's policy, politics, and personal stories on today's episode of The Steve Marchand Podcast.

  7. Aug 1

    E42: What's Next for the New Hampshire Primary?

    New Hampshire's status as "First In the Nation" for selecting presidential nominees - at least in the Democratic side - is under attack like never before. In late July, a key group within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) recommended which six states should begin the presidential primary process in early 2028. New Hampshire was third on that proposed calendar (February 8th, to be exact), behind South Carolina and Nevada. The full DNC will vote on this calendar later in August, where it is expected to approve both the early slate of six, but also the very punitive penalties for state parties who refuse to go along with this calendar. Candidates who appear to condone such "rogue" states could be banned from televised debates and lose delegates, while state parties could be fined over a quarter million dollars. What should NH do? Our state law says the Secretary of State shall have our primary at least a week before any other primary, which would likely mean something like January 11th, but the DNC is threatening steep penalties. State Democrats are caught between a rock and a hard place. Is there a way to thread this needle? Steve Marchand talks with UNH professor of political science Dante Scala - a noted scholar of the NH Primary - about how NH got here, why the DNC seems so determined to change the calendar, and what NH could do to square this circle. #nhpolitics

  8. Jul 25

    E41: The Politics of Crime, w/Rep. Buzz Scherr

    Albert "Buzz" Scherr has a remarkably deep and well-rounded career in the topic: A nationally recognized authority on forensic DNA evidence, he spent more than 12 years as a public defender, 20+ years as a trial and appellate lawyer, and has handled more than 40 homicide cases. He’s also a member of the UNH School of Law faculty, he’s taught everything from criminal procedure, to expert witnesses & scientific evidence, to genetics & the law. Buzz was also the Chairman of the Board for the ACLU-NH from 2011 to 2017, and a member of the National ACLU board from 2008 to 2015. He also has been a leader in attempts over the past decade to institute bail reform in New Hampshire, which has been through a high-profile, controversial journey between Governor Chris Sununu signing the effort Buzz lead in 2018, to Sununu signing a bipartisan set of reforms to that original law in 2024, to Governor Ayotte making a broad repeal of those efforts a priority in her first year in office.As Republicans nationally continue to be seen as stronger on issues of crime and public safety in polling, Democratic groups are debating how to simultaneously combat the perception that Dems’ are “soft on crime” while avoiding being seen as “complicit” with the Trump Administration’s aggressive tactics on immigration enforcement. Buzz and I examine both sides of that internal debate, how Democrats should talk about being "tough *and* fair, and the common public disconnect between perception and reality on how safe most New Hampshire communities are. You can learn more about Buzz at buzzfornh.com.#nhpolitics

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About

Steve is a longtime political professional in New Hampshire whose worn about every hat you can: A former mayor and gubernatorial candidate who has managed races for governor, congress, NH's First in the Nation Primary, and every possible downballot race. He now uses his experience and analytics background to run his Democratic advocacy organization, Move The Goalposts, and authors a successful Substack, The Politics of New Hampshire. On this podcast, Steve talks state and national politics with politicians, operatives, journalists, and you.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve Marchand
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Steve Marchand
  • Show Website
    The Steve Marchand Podcast

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