New Hampshire
Will New Hampshire independents swing for Harris?
![Will New Hampshire independents swing for Harris? Will New Hampshire independents swing for Harris?](https://gray-wcax-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/4OTLQT4WY5CMHBY5REXY3BVPBI.jpg?auth=51bf390486389258d59e236ad085a24b9ce10004960a4ce2fbce97eb0337cb66&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – Kamala Harris stumped for votes in the Granite State Wednesday making a stop in the Portsmouth area.
New Hampshire is considered a purple state with the latest presidential polls leaning slightly towards Harris. But, the experts say her campaign is not taking anything for granted. They also say the national Democratic party’s decision to skip over New Hampshire during the primary did not sit well with many New Hampshire voters.
“I think this is a fence-mending trip and it probably needs to happen. But secondly, I think Hillary Clinton learned the hard way that neglecting a state that you think is in your camp can be very costly,” said Linda Fowler, a political science professor at Dartmouth College.
Hillary Clinton just barely squeaked out a victory over Trump in New Hampshire in 2016. However, Joe Biden won the state by a much wider margin in 2020.
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New Hampshire
Emergency responders struggle with burnout, budgets as disasters mount • New Hampshire Bulletin
![Emergency responders struggle with burnout, budgets as disasters mount • New Hampshire Bulletin Emergency responders struggle with burnout, budgets as disasters mount • New Hampshire Bulletin](https://newhampshirebulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/disasters-2048x1366.jpg)
AUSTIN, Texas — Four days after residents of coastal Houston celebrated the Fourth of July with the traditional parades, backyard barbecues, and fireworks, Beryl came calling.
The Category 1 hurricane, weakened from an earlier Category 5, slammed into Texas’ largest city on July 8 – an unusual midsummer arrival. Delivering one of the worst direct hits on Houston in decades, Beryl flooded streets, ripped down trees, and left thousands without power, causing multiple heat-related deaths during a period of triple-digit temperatures.
Superlatives like “worst,” “biggest,” and “most” increasingly sprinkle news accounts in disaster coverage. Even as residents of Houston deal with Beryl’s lingering impact, farmers and ranchers in the Texas Panhandle are still trying to recover from the largest recorded wildfire in the state’s history, a February inferno that consumed more than a million acres of land, an estimated 138 homes and businesses, and more than 15,000 head of cattle. Three area residents were killed.
Climate change has rewritten the script for disasters, leaving communities vulnerable to weather patterns that don’t abide by schedules or the rules of past behavior. As a result, hundreds of thousands of emergency responders are facing unprecedented challenges – from burnout to post-traumatic stress disorder to tighter budgets – as they battle hurricanes, windstorms, wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters that are more frequent and intense than those in the past.
“Everybody’s strapped,” said Russell Strickland, Maryland’s secretary of emergency management, who also serves as president of the National Emergency Management Association, or NEMA, the professional group for state emergency management directors.
Agencies are grappling with “stagnant budgets and staff shortages” at a time when they need more money and people to deal with disasters and confront other demands, Strickland said. In the 1980s, states averaged just over three $1 billion weather disasters a year in cost-adjusted dollars, according to the association. In each of the past three years, the average has been 20. Last year, the nation was hammered by a record 28 of those billion-dollar catastrophes.
In a 2023 white paper, NEMA reported that “the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing number of back-to-back disasters have resulted in disaster fatigue and burnout.” It also reported that current funding levels for most emergency management agencies are “wholly inadequate to address the types of events that states are experiencing along with expanding mission areas.”
The nation’s disaster response system is a massive multilevel network that includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is charged with dispatching hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to battered states and communities, and counterpart state disaster agencies that advise or report to the governor. County and city governments also operate disaster and homeland security units.
Disaster officials throughout the country acknowledged that natural disasters such as wildfires, tornadoes and floods have increased and intensified as a result of climate change. Moreover, disaster agencies are being tasked with nontraditional assignments such as cybersecurity, opioid addiction, homelessness, and school safety.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report published in May of last year said that state demands for FEMA assistance have “increased with more frequent and complex disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and the COVID-19 pandemic” but that “FEMA has had trouble building a workforce to meet these needs.”
Budgets for state emergency management are funded by state legislatures and vary widely. The biggest states allocate a half-billion dollars while the smallest set aside closer to a half-million, according to a NEMA examination of state emergency management budgets.
California’s emergency management unit, attached to the governor’s office with nearly 2,000 employees, had the largest budget as of the 2022 fiscal year, with more than $530 million, according to the NEMA report. California is the nation’s largest state with 39 million people. By contrast, Vermont, which has less than a million people, had a fiscal year 2022 budget of $650,000 to fund 34 emergency management personnel, according to NEMA.
Texas, whose emergency management division teams works with the governor’s office and is based in the Texas A&M University System, had one of the largest budgets, $33.5 million to fund close to 500 employees, as of the 2022 fiscal year.
State emergency management agencies, which also receive money from the federal government, including FEMA, constitute the central nerve center during major disasters, typically working from a strategically located emergency operations center that includes representatives from various other agencies. Real-time information begins pouring in hours before the crisis, resulting in an all-points response that ultimately encompasses legions of state and local police, sheriff’s deputies, EMS, firefighters, relief agencies, and a long list of other responders.
Heavier strain on emergency workers
As he took a late-morning break from battling a recent 11-acre brush and grass fire near Smithville, a small town about 50 miles southeast of Austin, 36-year-old state firefighter Billy Leathers reflected on his 18-year career with the Texas A&M Forest Service, which helps local fire departments fight outdoor blazes. A charred grassy hillside stretched behind him.
Leathers is a third-generation firefighter who followed his parents and grandfather into the job.
“That’s the only one that I found that I liked,” he said of being a firefighter, adding that he and his co-workers “wouldn’t do it if we didn’t like helping people.” But he acknowledges that the increasing pace “does kind of start to run you a little bit ragged towards the middle of the season.”
The job increasingly involves more than fighting fires.
In 2020, Tennessee responders confronted a bombing on Christmas Day in downtown Nashville, when a 63-year-old conspiracy theorist apparently intent on suicide parked his recreational vehicle near an AT&T facility and ignited an explosion that took his own life, injured eight others, and triggered dayslong communication outages.
Tennessee also has faced a relentless surge of more traditional disasters, said Patrick C. Sheehan, who has directed the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency since 2016. In the 1980s, Tennessee had only three major natural disasters caused by severe storms and flooding. Since January 2014, the state has had 24 major disaster declarations.
“We’re having incredible, record-breaking rainfall,” Sheehan said. “We’re having record-breaking cold. We’re having record-breaking heat. We’re having tornadoes earlier and later.”
Sheehan and other emergency managers point out that climate change’s continually shifting weather patterns now make it almost impossible to precisely predict a so-called season for storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes. As illustrated by Hurricane Beryl, coastal storms are increasingly arriving earlier and in greater strength.
“We expect weaker hurricanes to decrease in frequency and stronger ones to increase in frequency,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist.
More residents, more danger
Texas’ chief disaster responder is Nim Kidd, a former San Antonio firefighter who heads the Texas Division of Emergency Management and who is typically alongside Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott during briefings on tornadoes, fires, floods, or other weather events.
The division was formerly attached to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state police force, and was transferred to the Texas A&M System in 2019, putting it under the same umbrella as firefighters in the Texas A&M Forest Service. Kidd is also A&M vice chancellor for disaster and emergency services.
Forest Service Director Al Davis and Deputy Director Wes Moorehead said the wildfire danger in Texas has steadily increased with the state’s surging growth as more and more people migrate to the state, often settling in attractive areas close to trees and brush that become vulnerable to ignition during drought and triple-digit heat.
“They like a little bit of nature around them,” said Moorehead. “They want some trees, some grasses and vegetation. And in Texas that grass, that vegetation, those trees – that is fuel for a wildfire.”
The state’s disaster and firefighting operations came under scrutiny during a state House of Representatives hearing on the catastrophic Panhandle fires, which started Feb. 26 after a downed power line set off the blaze that ultimately advanced 95 miles, reaching into Oklahoma.
Local concerns focused heavily on delays in engaging aircraft into the firefighting effort, since the state doesn’t have its own firefighting fleet and relies on private contractors. The state’s first order for aerial fire-suppression equipment from the federal government wasn’t made until 24 hours after the so-called Smokehouse Creek fire erupted, the investigative committee found.
Kidd, testifying at the hearing, endorsed the creation of a state-owned firefighting fleet, which also was recommended by the five-member panel.
The Panhandle investigation also underscored the importance of volunteer fire departments in augmenting government emergency response agencies. Committee members found that volunteer departments are “grossly underfunded,” further undercutting emergency preparedness.
Many first responders say they tolerate the danger, stress, and low pay because they want to serve, said Moorehead, of the Texas forest service.
“When you’ve got people with the drive and the willingness and the service mindset to go out and do right and do good for the citizens of the state,” he said, “you can overcome shortages like you’d never imagine.”
This story was originally published by Stateline, which like the New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
New Hampshire
Sorry, Boomers, Harris Is In Love With Another Generation
NORTH HAMPTON, New Hampshire — Kamala Harris traveled to the “Live Free Or Die” state yesterday, the perfect place to deliver her message of freedom… and tax cuts for small businesses.
The New Hampshire event at women-owned Throwback Brewery in North Hampton was pulled together quickly and scheduled for the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. Still, over a thousand supporters turned up for the presidential candidate, including a large showing of younger people.
“I love Gen Z. I just love Gen Z,” said Harris later in her speech.
There were Boomers, too, including Catherine Johnson, 65, a self-described “campaign junkie” who claims she had traveled over 15,000 miles across the tiny state to attend over 200 political events in her lifetime. She recalled that in 2020, she saw then-senator Harris speak “in a lot of apple fields and farm stands.”
The Boomer men also showed, most looking like variations on Ed Begley, Jr. I stopped one Begley impersonator who was wearing a cap with the name of his country club embroidered on the brim. I asked if he was there to support Harris.
“Yep,” he said, tersely.
I mentioned a recent poll that showed that when Harris replaced Biden, women voters shifted toward her while men shifted away. I asked what he thought might explain that shift.
“Well,” he said with a perfect New England pause, “I don’t believe polls from the get go.”
A moment later, a woman (his wife?) joined him and he used the interruption as a reason to escape further questioning.
Maine State Representative Tiffany Roberts was enjoying some shaved ice when I approached. As chair of the Maine Legislature’s Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee, Roberts was eager to hear Harris lay out her policy.
“Trump doesn’t realize that New England has a strong tradition of small businesses: farmers, fishermen, local breweries,” she said. “It’s not like New York City. These businesses are actually for the people who live here.”
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with supporters.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Roberts touted a new agreement between New England states that allowed credentialed workers to be accredited by other states with the same requirements. “If you’re a social worker or electrician in Massachusetts, you can become (snaps her fingers) a social worker or electrician in Maine,” she said.
The New Hampshire congressional delegation kicked off the show at Wednesday’s rally. U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas spoke first, ushered in with the song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” which suited the venue.
Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen followed. Hassan referred to Trump’s proposals to raise tariffs as “a sales tax” and “a backwards idea from a backwards candidate.” Then she added, “We are not going back!,” knowing that the crowd from a state with no sales tax would pick up the chant.
Shaheen piled on, saying Trump had “the worst job record since Herbert Hoover.” (She did not explain that Hoover was the president during the Depression so her point may not have landed with the proper impact for the younger crowd.)
After Shaheen, there was a pause in the speakers. The temperature flirted with 80 degrees and campaign staffers handed out Gatorade while the brewery sold drinks with cutesy names like “Kamala Femininomenon” (lemonade) and “Coach” (unsweetened ice tea.)
“Hydrate,” Dover-based DJ Mam told the crowd. “And then make a plan to vote.”
Throwback Brewery in North Hampton sold campaign-themed drinks during Wednesday’s rally.
Nell Scovell/The Daily Beast
Right on schedule, Harris took the stage to Beyoncé’s anthem “Freedom.” The vice president greeted the crowd with a big smile. Someone in the crowd must have mentioned her husband, prompting her to announce, “Doug sends his love to everyone as well.”
Then the tone changed. Harris had come to talk about freedom, but after a morning of tragedy, she was forced to stand outside the women’s-owned Throwback Brewery in North Hampton and talk about gun regulations.
Earlier in the day, a 14-year old student in Georgia had slaughtered two students and two teachers while leaving dozens more injured. So before Harris could talk about small businesses, she had to address the dead elephant in the room.
Harris spoke of the “senseless tragedy.” She recalled that as a child in California, her school had earthquake drills and fire drills and how wrong it is that today’s K through 12 students are subjected to active shooter drills.
“It does not have to be this way,” she repeated several times.
Later in the speech, Harris clarified her position for the firearm-friendly New Hampshire crowd. “It is a false choice to say you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Harris said. “I’m in favor of the Second Amendment and I know we need reasonable gun safety laws in our country.”
Turning to the economy, Harris offered a list of proposals, including a tax deduction of up to $50,000 for startups, low-interest or no-interest loans, and reducing red tape to make it easier for small businesses to file taxes. She boasted about how the Biden administration had seen over 17 million applications for new businesses since taking office. Then she set a goal of seeing 25 million new applications by the end of her first term. She admitted that was “ambitious,” but, “I think we should admire ambition in each other.”
Vice President Kamala Harris approaches the stage at a rally in New Hampshire Wednesday, where over a thousand supporters turned up for the presidential candidate, including a large showing of younger people.
Brian Snyder
The crowd cheered loudly. They also cheered loudly when Harris called for a “fair tax” on billionaires. (According to Forbes magazine, New Hampshire only has one billionaire: Rick Cohen.)
Still, nothing received bigger approval from the group than when Harris brought up protecting a woman’s right to determine her own health care. The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe is clearly the accelerant to Harris catching political fire. And it’s not just affecting women.
“I think people are underestimating the male vote on the issue of choice,” Johnson, 65, told the Daily Beast. “They don’t want their sisters, wives, and daughters being told what to do with their bodies.”
Johnson plans to vote for Harris for President and Republican Kelly Ayotte for governor. She suspects mainly will follow that same path and keep New Hampshire purple.
On the drive along Exeter Road, houses seemed to alternate between Trump and Harris signs. One block had two small houses that flanked a long driveway to a mansion. The two small homes had Harris/Walz signs. The people who lived up the long driveway were going with Trump.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris applauds as she attends a campaign stop in North Hampton, New Hampshire.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
A group of Trump supporters—seven people and one dog—had gathered by the driveway that led to the brewery at noon as people filed in for the Harris speech. The group waved Trump flags and “Take America Back” banners. One had a sign that read: “Krazy Kommie Kamala. Another woman kept shouting into a megaphone, “Kamala, go home!”
The Trump contingent was gone by the time people filed out at four. I guess they went home.
New Hampshire
Kamala Harris to present small business plan in New Hampshire
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