Meet Bill

Years ago, I moved to New Hampshire as a Dartmouth student, and loved this state so much that I became a resident. My wife, Stefanie, and I raised our five children in the Lakes Region. We want to keep the New Hampshire we love and are disturbed by outsiders who have moved here intending to change our way of life.

I practiced ophthalmology in Carroll County for 30 years – mostly based in Wolfeboro, but also for some years in North Conway. As a business owner I created jobs and as a doctor I got people back to their jobs. Many of my constituents are my former patients – they know me, I know them, and they know I have their best interests in mind as I make decisions in Concord.

Over the years, I have given back to the community that has treated me so well. For twenty years, I was the volunteer Health Officer of Brookfield – promoting the common good and public health is very important to me. For 18 years, I served as Trustee of Huggins Hospital, including 10 years as Treasurer. I am fiscally disciplined and am proud of the role I played in putting Huggins on a firm financial footing – especially with recent issues at nearby hospitals. For 12 years, I was Brookfield’s Moderator, ensuring fair elections and our citizen’s right to vote. No one stole New Hampshire’s election.

For six years, 2016 to 2022, I was proud to represent Carroll 8 in the NH House. In my last four years, 64 bills I sponsored or cosponsored became law – making me one of the most productive House members. I did this not by pushing a radical ideological agenda, but by getting multiple groups to work together to solve problems.

Further, I have experience in numerous committees working on legislation in the House. For 5 years I served on Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs. Briefly, I served on Election law, but was moved to Executive Departments and Administration after switching parties. I also served on the Health and Human Services Oversite Committee, the State Health Assessment and State Health improvement Plan Advisory Council, and was one of the Governor’s appointees to the NH Prescription Drug Affordability Board. I was the Vice Chair of the Commission to Study Allowing Pharmacists to Prescribe or Make Available Via Protocol Oral Contraceptives and Certain Related Medications — the forum used to craft legislation making the pill available without prior prescription in NH. I have chaired the NH Rare Disease Advisory Council, and been the Vice Chair of the NH Telehealth Commission. In 2019, despite being in the minority, I chaired one Committee of Conference and served on another — both times reaching final compromise on important legislation.

Like many traditional New Hampshire Republicans, I thought of myself as fiscally disciplined but socially compassionate. I treat the people’s money as frugally as I treat my own. But both nationally and here in New Hampshire, the Republican party has tried to purge itself of people like me. I tried to change this working from the inside and concluded that is impossible.

In 2021 I left the Republican party and became a Democrat. The Democratic party is a big tent and I have been enthusiastically welcomed. I invite others no longer welcome in today’s Republican party to join me in moving on.

I believe in compromise but not appeasement. Compromise becomes appeasement when an extreme group takes control of the legislature. Those who support and encourage extremists by abandoning long held positions are as much of a problem as the extremists themselves. Appeasement does not work and history does not judge appeasement well. I believe I have convictions strong enough to make this distinction on behalf of my patients, now constituents, who I have known for decades.

In NH and throughout our country, we see increasingly partisan politics. While most voters are somewhere “in the middle,” our representatives are increasingly divided. Sadly, my former party has detached from reality. It is past time for people like me to move on.

We need a Senator advocating the moderate policies supported by most of our citizens. We need a Senator with the character to stand up to the loud and vocal minority which has gained control of the Republican party. I am running to become that Senator for District 3.

Former Rep. Bill Marsh, MD