State Senate candidate Brittany Ping spent some time knocking doors on Manchester’s West Side with fellow Republican candidates Juliet DiPietro and Steven Kesselring. As they walked through the crisp morning air, the group complimented the neighborhood’s Halloween decorations.
“Trick or Treat!” the group called after one voter opened the door of his house. “Well, the treat is we’d like you to vote for us,” DiPietro quipped, handing over some campaign literature.
The ward is part of State Senate District 20, which has an open race for the first time in 26 years, following the retirement of Democrat Lou D’Allesandro. Ping, who’s never held elected office, faces Democrat and current alderman Pat Long.
The outcome of the race is part of a wider debate about the role of Manchester in the state. Manchester’s challenges and reputation have been referenced a lot this election season as former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig is running for governor.
For Ping, winning would be a chance to center Manchester issues at a statewide level.
“You get to be the Manchester talking point and force it through, and then come back and demand that accountability from the state,” she said.
Ping moved to New Hampshire in 2012 as part of the libertarian Free State project. Some consider the project pretty radical – some Free Staters have pushed for New Hampshire to secede from the union, for example. But for Ping, the project is more like a loose collective where people sign a pledge to be themselves.
In this bid for state senate, Ping said she’s focusing on giving voters a choice. She said a lot of Manchester residents with conservative values feel underrepresented and she wanted to give them another option.
Ping has been involved with the Manchester Republican Committee since 2018 and has run unsuccessfully for office several times, including campaigns for the city’s school board and state representative.
“This is just a way to be about my values in my community. Because unfortunately –or fortunately– the Republican Party in the city of Manchester just didn't have people stepping up.”
The city tends to vote for Democrats, but the margins are often narrow –usually a few hundred votes per ward. This is the same city that has elected a Democrat to this senate seat for nearly 30 years, but has a Republican mayor and a Board of Aldermen controlled by Republicans.
Across the river, handful of voters at the downtown bus stop near Veteran’s park said there wasn’t a clear candidate resonating with them in this election – but they were clear that housing was the main issue facing Manchester.
Mary McDonald ranks the cost of living as one of her top concerns and sees the effects of homelessness every day.
“It's an issue that I don't know how you solve, but I think we have to put more effort into solving the issue, um, and not just expecting it to go away,” she said.
Other voters spoke about related concerns, like drug use on the streets and uncapped needles. Several voters also said that seeing unhoused people made them feel uneasy, but none of them described any firsthand unsafe encounters with an unhoused person.
Housing is complicated in Manchester. High rents and low vacancy rates make finding housing very difficult for many people. Statewide, the median price of a home in New Hampshire recently hit more than half a million dollars in September, and a recent survey from the University of New Hampshire found that one out of three Granite Staters rank housing as the top issue this election.
Housing is a priority for both candidates, although their approaches differ.
Ping runs a property management company and said she supports programs that would help unhoused people, especially veterans, to get into an apartment. If elected, she also said she would like to monitor the state funding for Manchester’s homelessness initiatives more closely. The way she sees it, the city could be spending that money more efficiently.
Ping also described herself as a YIMBY Republican, someone who would say “yes in my backyard” to creating housing solutions like accessory dwelling units, tiny houses and quadruplexes. Ping also emphasized an approach to development known as "by right," which would allow projects to move forward as long as they're already meeting current zoning laws. Those projects would still go through a permitting process and site review.
“I’m also pro ADU, pro up to a 4 plex as residential housing, and would support statewide initiatives that strengthened property rights for any NH owner,” she said. ‘It’s a win-win when more housing at all levels is missing in NH.”
Her opponent, Pat Long, said he’s hoping to increase state funding for the doorway initiatives that help people who struggle with substance abuse, many of which are unhoused. He also said he would push for a state budget that allocates more state money to Manchester so it can spend less city money on serving unhoused people.
“Manchester spends about two, $3 million a year of general funding for homelessness. And we're taking care of people, which I agree with. If you're homeless in Manchester, I don't care if you're from Chicago. We need to take care of you. And we're spending that money.”
Elected office is Long’s second career after working in construction. He has served as an alderman and state representative for nearly two decades and focused on legislation that helps children and seniors. He grew up as a ward of the state and said this experience informs how he votes on the Children and Family Law Committee at the statehouse.
A few weeks ago, Long was visiting a group of residents at the Courville At Manchester, asking them about their issues. They spoke about Medicaid reimbursements and the high cost of transportation to and from doctor’s appointments.
After talking with the group, Long said a lot of his power comes from listening to people.
“Every time I get elected, I don't wake up the next day with all these muscles – power. You're my power. I have no power unless I have you,” he said. “So remember that. Don't hesitate to call me.”
Long says he sees the state Senate as a place he can be more effective for his constituents because it’s smaller than the House of Representatives
In his time in office, Long says he’s worked at building relationships across the partisan divide. It’s a note he’s taken from Lou D’Allesandro who represented this district for 26 years.
“Lou has always showed that it's about relationship building,” he said. “You got to build relationships with everybody, with the Democrats, with the Republicans – with everybody.”
He says that approach has served him well over the years –including on the Board of Alderman where Democrats are in the minority. He worked closely with his Republican counterparts, including the Mayor, to draft a budget for the city.
Despite the city’s challenges around housing and homelessness both candidates say Manchester’s growing – new businesses are opening, the restaurant scene is lively and federal funds have come in for bioengineering of tissue
“I look at Manchester and I say, you know what we're doing all right,” Long said. “I accentuate the positives in Manchester. Manchester is in the eyes of the beholder.”
Voters will get their chance to choose which vision for the Queen City they want representing them in the State Senate on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
