For John Stephen, keeping the Granite State affordable has been his top priority on the Executive Council. He estimated he was able to trim $17 million from many contracts over his first two-year term.
“That’s the type of spending I’m talking about, when the government agencies are trying to buy products or services or doing things that I believe are unnecessary and that we don’t need to spend that extra dollar,” Stephen said.
But some things on the council aren’t gelling well with Stephen’s two opponents. A large reason Harriet Cady is running is her frustration with the Office of the Right to Know Ombudsman. For Terese Bastarache, it is wanting to see “real people” on the ballot, not career politicians.
All three are Republicans, and only one will be on the Nov. 3 ballot for the Executive Council seat from District 4. Their goals range from transparency to affordability.
The communities within District 4 are Allenstown, Auburn, Barnstead, Barrington, Bedford, Candia, Chichester, Deerfield, Epsom, Goffstown, Hooksett, Lee, Londonderry, Loudon, Manchester, Northwood, Nottingham Pembroke, Pittsfield and Strafford. State primary voting is Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Bastarache, from Loudon, has been on the other side of the council’s table many times, and most notably was arrested after making a comment during a heated 2021 meeting concerning COVID-19 relief funds. She and several others attended the meeting to oppose such funds.
Back then, Bastarache, who is a nurse, believed that the COVID vaccine was “rushed to market” and that people should have had the choice whether to vaccinate themselves and their families. Many of her core beliefs still hold true, but have been turned off by Donald Trump’s second term.
“I’m not comfortable with a lot of the administration that seems to be more focused on foreign interest versus the American people’s interest,” she said. “I’m not okay with the war causing, you know, the deficit to go through the roof. In my sphere of influence that follows me saw me as MAGA, saw me as Trump, and lately I’ve been like, ‘This isn’t what I voted for.'”
In turn, a lot of her sphere — which she garnered through her far-right activist group We the People NH — has turned their backs on her. But she isn’t so much concerned with that loss of audience; she wants to stand on issues like prioritizing in-state businesses, looking into the Division for Children, Youth and Families, and optimizing spending in public schools to save taxpayer money.
“The description for the Executive Council is to be the watchdog for the people, and what I saw every two weeks is basically everyone funneling through with their handout for money, and not a lot of competition, not a lot of contracts going to in-state entities, which would create jobs and put food on the table,” said Bastarache, who ran for the position previously in 2022 and 2024.
Cady, from Deerfield, has a storied political background. She has been behind the scenes in many state and national campaigns, notably John E. Sununu’s run for governor and Ronald Reagan’s road to the presidency. She’s also served two terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, worked at the Department of Transportation and has been on several local boards.
She said she’s been “very upset” by Stephen’s lack of presence in the small towns within District 4, and by the fact that the council didn’t fund the Office of the Right to Know Ombudsman, currently vacant and combined with another state office.
“The only place people can go is to court if they have a right to know issue,” Cady said. “Not many people can afford to do that, and so consequently … the law is empty to the average citizen, because they can’t afford it.”
If elected, she hopes to make the right to know system more accessible for the average person. She is also strong on education, believing more state dollars should be going directly to children to build their fundamental skills. Paying acute attention to the tourism sector and strengthening firearm education are also top of mind for Cady.
“Obviously, I’m a Republican because I believe that government only has certain duties, and it’s not to make decisions for people, but rather to help people accomplish that which they’re capable of educationally,” she said.
Stephen — a Manchester resident who has worked in several state agenices in his career, from the attorney general’s office to the Department of Health and Human Services — took the District 4 seat in 2024 when Ted Gatsas stepped down. Stephen said he respected Gatsas’s leadership and wanted to continue down a fiscally sound path.
He said he’s been heavily involved in improving the childcare system, fighting against emissions testing, and monitoring PFAS and water remediation. He pointed to several contracts he reduced, such as a $2 million ask from the Department of Corrections for tasers, to avoid spending unnecessarily and to focus on what the state really needs.
Stephen is also involved in local communities. He said he helped clear a Civil War-era gravestone in Candia from falling debris, get a restaurant running in the Lakes Region and getting highway markers and stoplights installed in needed areas.
“There’s so many areas of state agency where consumers, individuals, citizens and taxpayers of this state need immediate help moving government in the right direction, and that’s something that I really value,” he said.
