A Republican trademark attorney from Concord is mounting a last-minute challenge to Democratic state Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord.
Jeff Newman volunteered to run on primary day last week when he noticed no Republican candidate on the ballot for Senate District 15. He was entered into the race last Friday by the state Republican Party, which can put a candidate on the general election ballot in the case of a vacancy.
“I’m mainly running because I am a middle-class businessman, and I am getting crushed,” said Newman, 56, who works at Loginov IP, an intellectual property law firm in Concord. “I want to get more competition in the health care market, to drive down our costs and relieve us of some of that burden.”
Newman was born in Pennsylvania but graduated from Dartmouth College in 1984 and settled in Concord in 1994. He is the assistant secretary of the state Republican Party and the organization’s Federal Elections Commission compliance officer.
Newman has run for this seat before, unsuccessfully challenging Concord Democrat Sylvia Larsen during her two-decade tenure.
District 15 includes Concord, Hopkinton, Warner and Henniker.
Feltes, a former attorney with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, did not face a primary challenger this year. He was elected to represent the district in 2014, after defeating Democrat Kass Ardinger in a hotly contested primary race.
Feltes’s campaign called Newman’s entrance into the race an “11th hour backroom, backdoor effort,” in an email sent to supporters Monday by treasurer Ben Kelley.
“Republican voters in Senate District 15 deserve an actual choice, not a state party appointment,” Kelley wrote in the email. “Party bosses don’t run our democracy, the people do.”
Feltes serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources, Ways and Means, and Transportation committees.
He has backed expanded Medicaid, pushed to fund more supportive housing for people in addiction recovery, and was a member of the legislative team that helped reach a major settlement deal with Eversource Energy to sell its power plants.
Feltes has said paid family leave, workforce development and investments in energy efficiency are priorities for a second term.
“This election isn’t about me, it isn’t about the appointed opponent,” Feltes said. “It’s about the people of Senate District 15 and expanding opportunity for everyone not just the wealthy.”