June Trisciani is Asking for Senate District 16 Voters to Write In Her Name on the Democratic Ballot
Alderman at Large Seeks Seat Held by Democrat Kevin Cavanaugh in Gerrymandered District — OPINION
June Trisciani decided to run for State Senate at the end of August. She is asking people to write her name in on the Democratic ballot for New Hampshire Senate District 16, which consists of Manchester Ward 1, Goffstown, Hooksett, Candia and Raymond.
In the 2022 gerrymander that goes by the name “redistricting,” Republicans took Goffstown out of Lou D’Allesandro’s Senate District 20 and gave him Bedford instead, with the hopes that that would defeat him.
Goffstown was grafted onto Senate District 16, which once consisted of Manchester Wards 1, 2 and 12 along with Bow, Candia, Dunbarton and Hooksett, Republican-leaning towns.
The district now consists of Cavanaugh and June Trisciani’s home Ward 1 (the powerhouse in the Queen City in terms of votes cast and votes cast for Democratic candidates) AND Goffstown, along with Hooksett and Candia and for some reason the far-off town of Raymond.
Hooksett is a neighbor that once sent its students to Manchester high schools, but Manchester Ward 1 has little in common with the other constituent members of the Senate District, which was constructed to dilute Ward 1’s power and to stop Kevin Cavanaugh’s career in state politics.
At least Goffstown and Candia are neighbors — but Raymond?
Rumor has it that the gerrymander was affected by the wishes of State Rep. Barbara Griffin, a former Democrat-turned-Republican who represents Goffstown and serves as the chair of the House Election Law Committee.
Word is Griffin has “dreamed” of being in the State Senate.
Unfortunately for State Rep. Griffin, she faces a tough Republican primary opponent in reputed Free Stater Michael Yakubovich of Hooksett, a “Liberty Republican” who moved to Manchester in 2015 and has served two terms in the State House of Representatives.
After the gerrymander that was designed to strip Manchester of one of the three Democrats representing it in the New Hampshire Senate was approved, Kevin Cavanaugh decided to take on former Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas in the Executive Council race. By the filing deadline for the primary, no other Democrat has signed up.
So, June Trisciani decided to step up.
If anyone can start from behind and win, it is June, who won an alderman-at-large seat on the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen in her first political campaign. June Trisciani was the top vote getter in the race.
Go June!
