Hope Damon
Running for: NH House Sullivan County District 08
Completed our 2024 State Candidate Survey
Position on Issues
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support the “Education Freedom Account” program, which gives students access to the per-pupil share of state school funding to spend on private school or home school expenses?
"I do not support the current version of the voucher program because there is no accountability, no separation of church and state, and no background checks to assure that children are safe. We need to continue to improve public education so that the majority of students thrive in their local community schools. That said, I do recognize that for a small number of students, their needs might be better met outside of public schools."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?
"Abortion is a very personal, private decision that should remain between the woman and her provider. There is no room for government in medical decision making. We should do better a better job of education and making access to contraception easy and affordable so there are fewer unintended pregnancies. There are extremely few abortions after 24 weeks - they occur when the life of the mother is at risk or the fetus will not survive. These are heart-wrenching decisions that belong only with the family, not the legislature."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?
"Abortion is a very personal, private decision that should remain between the woman and her provider. There is no room for government in medical decision making. We should do better a better job of education and making access to contraception easy and affordable so there are fewer unintended pregnancies. There are extremely few abortions after 24 weeks - they occur when the life of the mother is at risk or the fetus will not survive. These are heart-wrenching decisions that belong only with the family, not the legislature."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH add an income tax on earned income?
"NH is justifiably proud of our lack of income tax. We already have difficulty attracting and retaining residents that businesses need to provide services. Income tax would diminish our ability to attract growth."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH add a broad-based sales tax?
"Sales taxes are regressive taxes that hurt middle and low income people while not effecting the wealthy significantly. This is not a good choice for NH."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?
"Taxing successful businesses is a reasonable approach to obtain some of the needed state revenue."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire add a tax on capital gains?
"A capital gains tax would generate a significant amount of needed revenue for the state while not adversely effecting low and middle income earners."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire government do more to address climate change?
"NH is far behind our neighboring states in responding to climate change. It has and will continue to cost us dearly as our energy costs rise while we ignore utilizing a variety of clean energy sources. The severe road damages from repeated flooding, the adverse impact on our ski and lakes tourism industry, cyanobacteria episodes in so many lakes - these are all consequences of not addressing climate change. We can do much better!"
Undecided| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support giving voters who register without ID on Election Day a ballot that only counts if they return identifying documents to the state before a deadline?
"I value our existing free, fair and safe elections. The issue of fraudulent voter access has been hugely exaggerated. I could only support requiring documents for a ballot to count if the deadline was feasible in the context of how long it actual takes to receive those documents. The real issue here is voter suppression not fraudulent voting."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?
"I serve on the NH House Special Committee on Housing. Our critical shortage of housing throughout the state must be addressed with a careful balance of respecting local control while prudently increasing state housing incentives for ADUs, duplexes and small, attractive developments that fit well with the neighborhood where they are located. Legislation must include waivers to state level zoning if a project would exceed the local capacity for water, sewer, safety services, etc."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support legislation to expand the net energy metering system capacity cap from 1 MW to 5 MW for all residential and commercial customers in New Hampshire?
"We should be incentivizing residential, commercial, and municipal solar. Net metering expansion is essential to doing that. I have no expectation that solar will be our primary fuel source but it certainly could be providing much more than currently."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?
"Abortion is a very personal, private decision that should remain between the woman and her provider. There is no room for government in medical decision making. We should do better a better job of education and making access to contraception easy and affordable so there are fewer unintended pregnancies. There are extremely few abortions after 24 weeks - they occur when the life of the mother is at risk or the fetus will not survive. These are heart-wrenching decisions that belong only with the family, not the legislature."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should the state increase funding for child care providers?
"Child care is a fundamental need for an economically thriving society. It keeps children safe and healthy, helps them develop skills for success in school which reduces future special education costs. Currently 16,500 parents in NH are not working because they are unable to access childcare. Meanwhile, skilled child care providers earn, on average, $13 hourly or $27,040 annually which is not a livable wage. Most child care providers do not make a livable wage to support their own families. We are watching the available child care slots decrease as providers leave for more sustainable work."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support New Hampshire’s current system of public school funding, with about two-thirds of total funding coming from local property taxes?
"We are long overdue to improve state funding of public education. The courts have repeatedly ruled that we are violating our state constitution by not adequately funding education. Despite considerable efforts to improve both the adequacy formula and the structure/funding of special education, the legislature did not appreciably improve education funding this session. It is critical to controlling local property taxes and to quality education that we increase state funding of education. NH is a woeful last in country for state education funding. Inadequate state funding of education means communities lack resources for other significant needs - roads for instance."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?
"All of our neighboring states allow recreational marijuana - we are sending revenue across our borders. There is no safety net in NH to assure a person is purchasing marijuana that is not contaminated. We should carefully legalize and regulate marijuana sales. Profits should be distributed to prevention of substance use disorder, increasing treatment options including supporting recovery houses and public education. The statute should include restriction on advertising, especially to young people. There should be a limit on the number of retail outlets in any community."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?
"All of our neighboring states allow recreational marijuana - we are sending revenue across our borders. There is no safety net in NH to assure a person is purchasing marijuana that is not contaminated. We should carefully legalize and regulate marijuana sales. Profits should be distributed to prevention of substance use disorder, increasing treatment options including supporting recovery houses and public education. The statute should include restriction on advertising, especially to young people. There should be a limit on the number of retail outlets in any community."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?
"All of our neighboring states allow recreational marijuana - we are sending revenue across our borders. There is no safety net in NH to assure a person is purchasing marijuana that is not contaminated. We should carefully legalize and regulate marijuana sales. Profits should be distributed to prevention of substance use disorder, increasing treatment options including supporting recovery houses and public education. The statute should include restriction on advertising, especially to young people. There should be a limit on the number of retail outlets in any community."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire raise the minimum wage?
"It is essential to our civilized society that all adults are able to provide for their family's basic needs with an adequate income from full time work. NH minimum wage follows the federal requirement which has not changedsince 2009. At $7.25/hour, a full time employee earns just $15080 per year. You could easily need all of that or more just for housing and have nothing left for food, healthcare, transportation, child care etc. Not paying a livable wage to hard-working Granite Staters creates more expense for government, as people then turn to food assistance programs, lack health care (which ultimately costs more when medical crises happen). People earning minimum wage cannot afford childcare which leads to neglect or the person not working at all in order to care for their children."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire add legal protections for residents of other states who travel here for health care related to abortion or gender transition?
"The overturn of Roe v Wade and the subsequent restrictions on abortions in many states has created an environment that threatens health care providers. This will result in less pregnancy care as providers decide it isn't worth the risk to practice in states where their medical license could be at risk simply for providing life-saving care. It is completely unacceptable for women to have different legal access to healthcare contingent on their zip code. We should be protecting women who travel to NH for abortions and we should be protecting abortion providers."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?
"Abortion is a very personal, private decision that should remain between the woman and her provider. There is no room for government in medical decision making. We should do better a better job of education and making access to contraception easy and affordable so there are fewer unintended pregnancies. There are extremely few abortions after 24 weeks - they occur when the life of the mother is at risk or the fetus will not survive. These are heart-wrenching decisions that belong only with the family, not the legislature."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement?
"Local law enforcement in most communities work very hard to be trusted and connected with the people they serve including with immigrant populations. It isn't the responsibility of local law enforcement to be adjunct federal immigration officials. We should be welcoming legal immigrants as our business community sorely needs their work. Unless you are native American, you are an immigrant or descended from one."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?
"I strongly support Second Amendment rights AND I equally value the need for firearm safety. It isn't an either/or situation. We can have both reasonable firearm safety measures and also have gun ownership. The vast majority of citizens appreciate this. Suicide is the leading cause of death by firearm. Simply increasing the waiting period for gun ownership to 5 days and enforcing it in all sales or transfers of firearms would greatly reduce these tragedies."
