After two decades spent developing treatments for neurological diseases, Karishma Manzur still felt like she wasn’t doing enough to help people.
Manzur spent her childhood in the wake of a war in Bangladesh that killed several family members. When her father was assassinated, and she was arrested, along with her siblings and her mother, she was only seven years old. Arriving as refugees in Massachusetts, the family survived on incomes earned at a minimum wage of $4.25 an hour.
Her platform as a progressive Democrat running for Congress was formed by these experiences, and she speaks about livable wages and universal healthcare with conviction, as she does when she advocates for a “humane” foreign policy. The irony is not lost on her that her family was forced to seek refuge in the United States, which supported West Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
“You should be concerned when people are being bombed overseas. That’s your humanity — hold on to it, because you’re being asked to compromise at the ballot box,” she told a crowd gathered in Bicentennial Square on Friday morning. “The people of the United States are some of the biggest humanitarians, and yet the American government’s foreign policy is so ill-advised and causes such pain and suffering.”
Manzur, who lives in Exeter with her husband and two children, mounted her campaign for Senate after many years researching remedies for epilepsy and depression, and involvement with area nonprofits — including NH Ranked Choice Voting, NH Open Democracy Action and NH Peace Action.
She’s promised not to take money from any corporate donors, an uphill battle where she’s encouraged her supporters to hold her accountable. Succeeding, she believes her campaign will be proof positive that running for office can function differently.
‘Then Karishma came along’
In the early days of her campaign, Manzur spoke to a state senator who earnestly asked her why she would run for U.S. Senate as a non-millionaire or without a billionaire donor backing her.
“I said, ‘Think about what you just said. That’s exactly why I’m running for the United States Senate,’” she said.
In Congress, she said one of her first priorities would be to overturn the landmark Citizens United decision — along with impeaching President Donald Trump and passing Medicare for All.
The money behind an elected representative tells the story of the interests they represent, she said.
“We have a housing crisis, a childcare crisis, a healthcare crisis. It’s not from scarcity of resources — we’re the richest country in the world. It’s happening because the donor class is deciding who gets access to those seats,” she said.
Manzur has met with voters at town halls, farmers markets and coffee shops over the course of her grassroots campaign.
She’s talked to young people who’ve found themselves unable to leave their parents’ homes despite earning trade school certificates and college degrees. She recalled one young woman sharing an apartment with four other roommates, forced to sleep in a closet for lack of room.
Twenty-somethings afraid to lose their parents’ insurance coverage; couples refraining from having children because they can’t afford childcare; elderly people unable to stop working past retirement age.
“We’re talking about a system that is failing people from early in their lives all the way to their retirement years,” she said. “Those are the stories that motivate me.”
Manzur has gone from a virtual political unknown to a recognizable name since she launched her campaign. She contrasts her community outreach, somewhat with pride, to that of her opponent, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas.
“He doesn’t have the courage to meet with the people of the nation,” she said.
Manzur laments that Pappas has accepted donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and failed to co-sponsor universal healthcare bills during his seven years on Capitol Hill.
Donna Baker-Hartwell, an Andover resident and Manzur supporter, said she has watched with dismay as her tax money has been diverted to fund wars rather than education and renewable energy.
“I have felt so disheartened and frightened for the future for a decade now. It seems like we have been living in the dark ages here in New Hampshire, and elected officials are not listening to us,” she said. “Then Karishma came along, and it’s such a bright light in this darkness. And boy, I am so grateful that she’s running.”
Others listening to the candidate speak in Bicentennial Square had less faith.
B.J. Bockenhauer, of Concord, is naturally distrustful of all politicians, she said. Sure, at this moment, Manzur might be refusing PAC donations, but there’s no telling what she’ll do once she’s in office.
“You were from the people, but now you’re a politician,” she said from a picnic table at the fringe of the gathering.
Manzur urged the crowd to pay attention to their elected officials — if she makes it to the Senate, they need to hold her accountable.
“If I don’t keep my promise, you should call me out,” she said. “I’m not here to play politics. I’m here to change it.”
‘A low bar’
In Nashua, one man told Manzur that for the first time in years, he doesn’t have to “hold his nose” when he casts his ballot for her this November.
“It’s a low bar. What are people hoping for? Honesty, integrity, accountability,” she said. “It’s amazing how little is being offered by the candidates from both parties year after year.”
Manzur voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, but not without reservations. She knew that though Harris was the “lesser of two evils,” the genocide in Gaza would continue under her administration.
In her own campaign, she doesn’t want to force voters to compromise. She’ll be the first Democrat to earn the votes of some of the libertarians she’s met, she said. Her career background also lends her some authenticity: As a scientist, she’s seen as the analytical rather than ideological type.
“I don’t care if a good piece of legislation is coming from a conservative movement, liberal or progressive,” she said. “If it’s a good piece of legislation, then I care about it.”
Libertarians appreciate her foreign policy and healthcare stance, she said. But beyond her policy platform, her supporters point to her compassionate personality.
“She’s so positive, and she seems so sincere to me,” said Bernice Dunlap from Laconia. “I have a lot of confidence in Karishma, and I’m so glad she’s running, and I’m so glad to know her because she’s an honest person.”
She urged the people before her — most of them elderly — to do what they could to advance the campaign: Keep spreading the word, keep wearing “Karishma for Senate” t-shirts and buttons, keep canvassing, keep having conversations with their community members.
“I’m running because we’re tired. We’re tired — many of us — and we realize the failures,” she said. “I’m still only one person. I can only do so much. But we can really be a movement.”
