Unopposed and unwavering: Molly Cowan secures third term on Exeter’s Select Board

EXETER — When Molly Cowan first ran for a seat on the town's Select Board in 2018, she said it was because local government is where “the change happens in a real way that impacts your life.”

At Tuesday’s election, Cowan, who ran unopposed, was reelected to her third term on the board.

“It’s a huge honor to serve my town,” she said. “I think local elections and local services are some of the most important work you can do to show that government works, to show that we can be responsive, and to show that it adds value to people’s lives.”

What are her priorities in the next three years? Cowan said it's the upkeep of the town’s basic infrastructure.

“It’s basic services – making sure that we have clean water, making sure that we have good roads, making sure our sewer system works,” she said. “You wouldn’t even notice if it goes well, like it’s not going to make any noticeable difference in anybody’s life. But if it doesn’t go well, then you see it.”

Although these topics are not particularly the most exciting to talk about, Cowan said they're “very important.”

“Time after time, we see something break, and it’s catastrophic, and all of a sudden, you’re spending all this money where if you had been chipping away at it all along, it’s less expensive – it’s not an exciting thing to talk about, but in my mind, is so important.”

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Politics is not just a hobby for Molly Cowan

Cowan’s interest and experience with politics transcends the local level.

Cowan is the state and local regional director for EMILYs List, a political action committee that aims to help elect Democratic female pro-choice candidates. She received her bachelor’s in political science from Binghamton University in 2004 and a master’s in public administration from the University of New Hampshire in 2009.

“I think I have been lucky to leverage my relationships outside of work into best practices… that we can bring to the board,” she said, referring to her strength in serving on the Select Board.

Cowan has also served in multiple roles for the New Hampshire State Senate and as a research director for Reger Research.

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Why does Cowan want to continue serving on the Select Board?

Cowan said her experience on the Select Board wasn’t always pleasant.

“When I first started serving on this board six years ago, it was a miserable experience,” she recalled. “There were screaming fights… It was a different time.”

However, when it comes to the current state of the board, Cowan credited her fellow Select Board members for creating a “strong and very functional board.”

“I think we are a strong, stable, calm board,” she said. “I think that we don’t always agree. I think that we have strong and different personalities – but we respect each other even if we don’t agree.”

Over the years, Cowan said she has found a greater appreciation for continuing long-term work, which is a reason why she decided to seek another term on the board to “keep serving.”

“I think this board has been really stable and steady and able to tackle long-term things while also reacting to the sewer siphon situation (at Swasey Parkway) or a pandemic,” she said. “I’ve really appreciated being a very small part of that.”

She said “one of the most important things” that the Select Board has put in place is succession planning for town employees.

“The world has just changed – people don’t start working in municipal government and stay there for 40 years and retire – it’s just not how it works,” she said. “We have to build resilience, and to our own departments, we have to take a look at how things are structured.”

Cowan lives in town with her wife, Liz, and their two kids, Ben and Sam. In their free time, she said they like to hike and cook as a family. Her younger son, Sam, is a food aficionado with a particular interest in making fancy pavlovas whenever he gets a chance, she said.

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Who else won at Tuesday’s election in Exeter?

Also elected were Stacey Penna for supervisor of the checklist, Darius Thompson for Swasey Parkway trustee, Peter Lennon for Trustee of the Trust Funds, Mark Paige for Robinson Fund Trustee, and David Hathaway Moore and Lisa Wilson for library trustee.

Heather Ikemire and Tim Reed ran unopposed for two seats on the Exeter School Board.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Molly Cowan wins another term on Exeter Select Board: Election results