State of New Hampshire Archives: on Principles & Values
Bernie Sanders:
My spirituality: we are all in this together
Q: What do you say to voters who see faith as a guiding principle in their lives, and want it to be a guiding principle for this country?SANDERS: It's a guiding principle in my life, absolutely, it is. You know, everybody practices religion in a
different way. To me, I would not be here tonight, I would not be running for president of the United States if I did not have very strong religious and spiritual feelings. I believe that, as a human being, the pain that one person feels, if we have
children who are hungry in America, if we have elderly people who can't afford their prescription drugs, you know what, that impacts you, that impacts me. And I worry very much about a society where some people spiritually say, "it doesn't matter to me,
I got it, I don't care about other people." So my spirituality is that we are all in this together and that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me. That's my very strong spiritual feeling.
Source: 2016 N.H. CNN Democratic Town Hall
Feb 3, 2016
Bernie Sanders:
Progressives don't have SuperPACs with $15M from Wall Street
Q: A lot of your supporters expressed their belief that Hillary Clinton was not a progressive, when she said this after the Iowa Caucuses:CLINTON [videotape]: It is rare that we have the opportunity we do now to have a real contest of ideas. To really
think hard about what the Democratic Party stands for and what we want the future of our country to look like if we do our part to build it. I am a progressive who gets things done for people.
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton has a long and distinguished
public career. I served with her in the Senate. We worked together on some issues. But there are other issues where I think she is just not progressive. I do not know any progressive who has a superPAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street. Secretary
Clinton voted to go to war in Iraq. Secretary Clinton has been a supporter of various trade policies, NAFTA and PNTR with China. For a long time, Secretary Clinton was talking about the benefits of the Keystone pipeline. That's just not progressive.
Source: 2016 N.H. CNN Democratic Town Hall
Feb 3, 2016
Chris Sununu:
Vilifying pols is culturally ruining America
I think there's room for everybody in the Republican Party. I really do. It can't be about one particular issue. That's kind of that social media mob mentality that's built up in this country, where we don't agree with one issue,
so we're going to attack and we're going to vilify one person or one individual. We got to get beyond that, because, culturally, it's really, really ruining America.
Source: CNN SOTU 2021 interview of N.H. Governor
Nov 21, 2021
Chris Sununu:
Our responsibility is to be selfish for our constituents
One thing I remind people is, as a public servant, it's an amazing job in that our responsibility is to be selfish, to be really selfish for our constituents, to put them first every single time. And I think if more folks had that philosophy in
Washington, frankly, more stuff would get done. They'd be less worried about how they get re-elected or raising money and all that kind of nonsense. And ultimately, with more things done, you could get re-elected on those results.
Source: Meet the Press 2021 interview of N.H. Governor
Nov 14, 2021
Dan Feltes:
Transparency: tax returns, campaign expenses, contributions
Granite Staters deserve to know exactly who their Governor is working for.
Senator Feltes released 10 years of tax returns because he's committed to being open and transparent with the public. You can review each year's tax returns, along with his campaign expenses and contributions received.
Source: 2020 N.H. Gubernatorial campaign website DanFeltesNH.com
Jan 22, 2020
Derek Dextraze:
God should be left at church, not state
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Keep God in the public sphere?"
A: Strongly Oppose - I think God should be left at church, not state.
Source: Email interview: 2016 N.H. gubernatorial race by OnTheIssues
Mar 14, 2016
Hillary Clinton:
President's job: keep families safe; make economy grow
The American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat
ISIS without getting us involved in another ground war, and I have plans to raise incomes and deal with a lot of the problems that keep families up at night.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton:
Turn to Bill for special missions, not White House china
The role has been defined by each person who's held it. Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health. With respect to my husband, I am probably going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners.
But I will turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton:
I plead guilty to being a moderate
Q: Are you really a progressive? In the past you have said you plead guilty to being a moderate.CLINTON: And I said that I'm a progressive who likes to get things done.
Q: Senator Sanders was asked if you were progressive:
SANDERS [videotape]:
I served with Secretary Clinton in the Senate. We worked together on some issues. But there are other issues where I think she is just not progressive. I do not know any progressive who has a superPAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street.
CLINTON:
I was somewhat amused that Senator Sanders has set himself up to be the gatekeeper on who is the progressive because under the definition that was flying around on Twitter and statements by the campaign, Barack Obama would not be a progressive. And
I don't think it's appropriate that if Planned Parenthood endorses me or the Human Rights Campaign endorses me, they're thrown out of the progressive wing. Let's have a good contest of ideas. Let's contrast where we stand. And that's what I intend to do.
Source: 2016 N.H. CNN Democratic Town Hall
Feb 3, 2016
Jon Lavoie:
Indifferent on whether God applies to public sphere
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Keep God in the public sphere"?
A: Indifferent.
Source: Email interview for 2016 N.H. Governor race with OnTheIssues
Oct 18, 2015
Martin O`Malley:
Don't give up our freedoms for a promise of security
We should never give up our privacy or our freedoms in exchange for a promise of security. We need to figure this out together. We need to speak to what unites us as a people; freedom of worship, freedom of religion, freedom of expression.
We should never be convinced to give up those freedoms in exchange for a promise of greater security; especially from someone as untried and as incompetent as Donald Trump.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Molly Kelly:
Guided by principles of hard work and community service
Molly Kelly is an experienced leader and a tireless fighter running for New Hampshire governor to expand economic opportunity for all. Molly knows the challenges working families face because she's experienced them herself.
As the second of 11 children, Molly learned from her mother and father, a World War II veteran, the value of hard work and community service, principles that have guided Molly throughout her life.
Source: Emily's List Press Release on 2018 N.H. Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2018
Steve Marchand:
Socially very progressive and fiscally very responsible
Q: I found an article from 2008 about how the Democratic mayor of Portsmouth would get into political debates with his Republican wife. Are you still debating?A: There are some other issues where we clearly disagree. I didn't ask my wife when we
first started dating what her party affiliation was, and by the time I figured it out, I was smitten. It is easy to demonize other people that you don't know. So I'm really proud that even though I'm socially very progressive and fiscally
I'm very responsible--and I'll pay for priorities; I'm not afraid to say that--I have a lot of folks who are Republicans that are like my wife, and are kind of freaked out by some of the things going on at the national level and don't know what happened
to their party. I want them to know that we don't have to agree on all the issues, but they know they can work with somebody like me. I'll never compromise on my principles; I'll also not demonize people if they don't agree with me on everything.
Source: N.H. Public Radio on 2018 New Hampshire gubernatorial race
Apr 24, 2017
Chris Sununu:
Government not here to guarantee solutions to your problems
New Hampshire is the envy of the nation and the freest state in the Union. Other governors and people ask me all the time how has New Hampshire been so successful in keeping our economy strong even throughout COVID. I explain it's because we
don't overly burden our citizens with taxes and fees, and we ensure businesses can be successful without unnecessary regulations or bureaucracy. Government is not here to guarantee a solution to your problems but to help pave Pathways of opportunity.
Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the N.H. legislature
Feb 14, 2023
Page last updated: Feb 07, 2026