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Dear Kent Street Friends,

Last week, New Hampshire welcomed a winter reprieve in the form of a few days of warm spring weather and a shocking special election. The Granite State made national news with Bobbi Boudman’s surprise win of a House seat in consistently Republican Carroll County District 07 (Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro, Ossipee). The election of a Democratic candidate in a heavily-gerrymandered, reliably red district stunned state and national pundits. But you know who wasn’t surprised? Local activists on the ground who saw the energy reach a crescendo in real time as they talked to neighbors and campaigned for Bobbi on the issues, not on party.

What this State House win represents: a grassroots Triumph over outside money

Carroll County District 07 backed Donald Trump by 9 points in 2024, and Bobbi herself lost this seat by a wide margin in the last general election. Yet on March 10, she defeated Dale Fincher by roughly 4 percentage points, winning 52 percent of the vote in a hyper-local contest decided by fewer than 4,400 ballots. This outcome came despite more than $60,000 in outside spending and paid ballot-chasing operations aimed at holding onto a district that had been considered safe by her opponent.

Boudman’s victory was not powered by commercial ads or national surrogates but by neighbors talking to neighbors. The win followed months of gathering momentum built from local visibilities, group conversations and Town Democratic Committees determined to forge a different course. Since Trump’s reelection, concerned citizens had shown up for democracy every Saturday at Wolfeboro’s Pickering Corner and twice-monthly in the basement of the Congregational Church. The Town Committees held monthly meetings. Team Boudman volunteers built on this momentum with a hand-to-hand operation: delivering leaflets, writing countless postcards, posting on social media, penning LTEs and having conversations about property taxes, public schools, lake quality and health care with voters who often knew them personally.

Tuftonboro Democratic Committee Chair Emily James summed it up this way: “Everyone had a way into the community that we built”. Whether it was accountability canvassing in the late fall that Kent Street had joined, or the accountability house party sponsored by healthcare advocacy groups in the late winter, there had been a growing realization of the need for change in Concord. 

That widening circle of participation created a feedback loop: as Bobbi’s campaign took off, a mobilized community was ready to act.  It also helped that Bobbi was well-known, had deep roots in the area and worked smartly and creatively non-stop for three months, to earn every possible vote in the three towns. 

Wolfeboro Democratic Committee chair Beverly Woods emphasized that the multifaceted approach brought people together in a community of enthusiastic mutual support for shared goals. “Everyone from within the district and beyond who came to events and meetings, wrote LTEs, posted on social, leafleted and canvassed in the cold and snow, and made phone calls contributed to this win. Because of you, not only has Bobbi won the election, but people across the state and the nation are newly hopeful and energized.”

Boudman’s message ultimately resonated because it was rooted in the daily realities of Carroll County.. As Representative-elect Boudman herself said: “I never used the words Republican or Democrat, my voice was dedicated to the issues that people care about”. 

A blueprint for future State House wins

So, Kent Streeters, let’s be surprised and excited, but not stunned by Bobbi’s win. Let’s learn from her victory and repeat it. In the end, Boudman’s margin—about 160 votes—was the kind of edge that can be built only through grassroots work.The path to a governing majority in the State House runs through living rooms, local committee meetings, visibilities at the corner, and conversations at front steps, 

Let’s turn our concern into action and our action into votes. Let’s take Bobbi’s CA-07 campaign as our blueprint for success across NH in November.

Ready to begin?  Start by looking locally at your own town or district.  Do you have a good candidate ready to take on the challenge? It starts there.  If you don’t have one, start encouraging people whom you know are strong in the community to run for office. Contact us if you need help with that.  And of course, join Kent Street in leafleting, canvassing, postcard writing, showing up at visibilities and any other way you are comfortable engaging.  

We welcome you to help make the next “shocking” election happen!

In solidarity,

Kent Street Coalition Leadership Team