Ex-Dem state rep announces bid for vacant Senate seat
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May 6—CONCORD — A former legislator and retired doctor became the first Democrat to announce he's running for the seat that state Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, will retire from at year's end.
Bill Marsh served for six years in the House, the last four as a Democrat after he switched parties in part due to the Republican response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Marsh had run against Bradley for the District 3 seat, losing by a 58% to 42% margin.
"I wish my old friend the absolute best in his well-deserved retirement. I really enjoyed retirement. But yes, my friends, I got your message. I am willing to step up again and do my part," Marsh said in his announcement statement. "The citizens of New Hampshire still need someone able to carry on this tradition and work with both sides to solve real problems."
A Pennsylvania native, Marsh, 66, settled in New Hampshire after he graduated from Dartmouth College.
Last week, Bradley announced he would not seek a ninth term in the state Senate.
Bradley is serving his 27th year in the Legislature.
He also represented the 1st Congressional District for four years in Washington.
Hours after Bradley said he was departing, House Public Works and Highways Committee Chairman Mark McConkey, R-Freedom, became the first Republican to say he'd seek the GOP nomination.
The district includes nearly two dozen towns and unincorporated villages in the Lakes Region and Mount Washington Valley.
Marsh said the major issues facing the state are abortion rights, climate change, controlling energy costs, education funding and protecting the state's democracy.
"All of these issues are things I care a lot about, right beside and fully integrated into the issues I have worked on for years: access to medical care in rural New Hampshire, protecting the right to vote, and our public health," Marsh said.
Marsh was an ophthalmologist and served as Brookfield's town health officer for 20 years.
In September 2021, Marsh left the Republican Party after House GOP leaders attended a rally attacking the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Marsh also had come under attack from the Republican Liberty Alliance and other socially conservative groups over some of his votes.
"I became a Democrat when I became convinced there was no longer room for that kind of bipartisan cooperation in today's Republican party," Marsh said.
"That is unfortunate, but we still need to work together to find answers for everyone in N.H."
Marsh said in his last four years in office he sponsored or co-wrote 64 bills that became law.
"I believe in compromise but not appeasement," Marsh wrote on his website. "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."
Marsh and his wife, Stephanie, have five children.
