Penacook Rep. Steve Shurtleff will run for House speaker if Democrats take control of the chamber in the November election.
The House Minority Leader announced his campaign Tuesday in Concord and said investing in infrastructure, funding higher education and ensuring family leave are top priorities.
“It looks good for the Democrats to take back the majority this November, and so I am looking forward to making a run,” Shurtleff said.
Republicans currently control the House of Representatives, which is led by Speaker Shawn Jasper of Hudson.
Jasper, with backing from Democrats, defeated a member of his own party in 2014 to win the gavel. The controversial speaker’s contest divided House Republicans. While fierce animosity has largely died down, a Republican rift is still felt in the chamber.
Shurtleff said Democrats were “instrumental” in electing Jasper, over competitor Bill O’Brien, a contentious former House speaker. The vote showed House Democrats put residents above partisan politics, he said.
“It would have been probably better for us politically to have two more years of Bill O’Brien as speaker, as disastrous as that would have been,” Shurtleff said. “But the caucus decided we couldn’t put the people of New Hampshire through that.”
Shurtleff said House Democrats helped reauthorize expanded Medicaid in the state by unanimously backing a Republican-authored bill that continues the health care program for two more years.
Shurtleff is serving his sixth term in the House, and is also an at-large councilor on the Concord City Council.
No other House Democrats have announced campaigns for speaker. Jasper says he will seek another term.
(Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or at amorris@ cmonitor.com.)