James Roesener hailed as first transgender man elected to state legislature

Concord’s James Roesener was hailed as the first openly transgender man elected to any U.S. state legislature on Tuesday when he won the Merrimack County District 22 House seat.

Roesener defeated Dennis Soucy for the seat that represents Concord Ward 8.

A record number of trans candidates ran for office in the 2022 midterm elections, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government.

Concord voters elected only Democrats to all 13 seats in the House of Representatives, sometimes by a margin of 3-to-1. 

For District 18, Concord Ward 4 voters elected Jim MacKay over Kristen Jackson, 1,295 to 489.

For District 19, Concord Ward 5 voters chose Mary Jane Wallner over Patrice Myers, 1,641, to 555.

For District 21, Concord Ward 7 voters selected Timothy Soucy over Robert Bertrand, 1,600 to 662.

For District 23, Ward 9 voters elected Merryl Gibbs over Andrew Georgevits, 895 to 619.

For District 24, Ward 10 voters chose Matthew Hicks over John Cate, 1512 to 851.

In three floaterial districts covering multiple wards, Art Ellison defeated Kevin Moore for the District 28 seat 2,646 to 1,696; Kris Shultz topped Kenneth Georgevits for District 29 seat 3,498 to 2,139; and Rebecca McWilliams defeated Chris Wood for the District 30 seat 5,098 votes to 2,369. 

Steve Shurtleff ran unopposed for the District 15 seat; Connie Lane ran unopposed for District 16; Beth Richards ran unopposed for District 17 and Eric Gallager ran unopposed for District 20.