Rebecca Perkins Kwoka is New Hampshire Senate
minority leader.

One of the best parts of being an elected official is the perspective it gives you. In conversations at the grocery store, at the dinner table, in a group chat with friends, I have heard again and again, and I have echoed myself, that what people want is more time with loved ones. What people want is to have jobs that give them this time with loved ones while earning good pay and opening up opportunities; to have communities built on a sense of pride and neighborly support, ones that empower and keep them safe; to have neighborhood schools that provide their kids with the best education possible.

With all that is going on in our day-to-day lives, it can be easy to lose sight of these pillars. That’s why we are here. Senate Democrats know how to deliver, and we are getting back to what matters. These pillars boil down to one thing: full freedom and agency for Granite Staters.

That starts with economic freedom. Every Granite Stater should have a home they can enjoy worry-free, a place where we can welcome our family and friends, rest after a hike or day on the lake and unleash our kids’ imaginations. Yet right now, we are facing a housing crisis, one that requires diverse solutions to address.

Our caucus has led record investment in housing. The inaugural Housing Champions Program has already delivered real dollars and resources to 18 cities and towns as they build out housing options workers, families and retirees can afford. This is a great start, and we’ve put legislation forward this year to expand the program. In a tight budget year, we are also backing innovative solutions like state-issued bonds to expand the market for housing finance and Sen. Reardon’s C-PACER bill to lower energy costs, both of which were designed to spur development by reducing initial barriers.

True freedom extends to our individual and community health. Just as no one should worry about having a place to call home, they should not worry about their health impacting the life they live. This means ensuring people have secure communities and the care they need.

Sen. Watters and Sen. Rosenwald have introduced robust legislation to grow and support our health care and public safety workforce. These bills will help recruit and retain staff for our public safety agencies and health centers, ensuring they have full capacity to keep us safe and healthy. Sen. Prentiss is leading ‘MOMnibus’ 2.0 to further support young moms’ physical and mental health with employment protection, and Sen. Fenton is pushing for more funding to our community mental health centers for community and transitional housing.

Creating free and vibrant communities is critical for our children and for keeping New Hampshire a wonderful place to raise a family. That extends into our neighborhood schools, which need better support from the state. Sen. Long and Sen. Fenton are bringing legislation to ensure low-income students receive school meals and to address bullying and cell phone use in schools. Sen. Altschiller is also leading a bill to audit the voucher program and crack down on the lack of oversight for vouchers, a majority of which go to students already in private schools. Vouchers have also gone to a toy store, a home appliance store and even Amazon. We are also bringing several bills that provide robust support to our career and technical education programs.

And we can’t talk about fully enjoying our communities if we don’t safeguard our freedoms and keep them safe. We will continue fighting to protect reproductive freedom, to ensure that our law enforcement has the support it needs and to protect the communities Republicans have spent time targeting to distract from their reckless spending and looming budget deficit.

Working in the minority has its challenges, for sure. But as a person who grew up in a Dairy Queen and has worked hard for as long as I can remember, I know that this is not the time to wring our hands or sit idle. The challenges ahead are challenges we should face head-on, with eyes open and tools at the ready. New Hampshire is our state, too, and we are here to fight day in and day out for a life that Granite Staters want. As they live every day, so we fight for them every day.

Our caucus is a talented group that has always made incredible progress in key areas regardless of the vote count in the room. We’re going to continue to bring that energy to the issues that matter to you and continue making the contrast between a government led by a party beholden to a wealthy and well-connected few and our party: one dedicated to hard-working individuals across our state who I am proud to call my fellow Granite Staters.