Thursday night I had the fortune to be invited by Rep. Amanda Toll to the New Hampshire Young Democrats' "Granite Slate Awards," at which she accepted an award for "Progressive of the Year."
That's like an Emmy, if the Emmies were for New Hampshire Democrats that Get Things Done.
Of course I didn't think to take a decent camera to this event, or to sit in a spot with a less oblique angle and better lighting. Which is to say that I apologize for the quality of these photographs.
But I would like for the readers of this blog to get to know more about the badass, state-level Dems we have working on our behalf in Concord, so I will post them anyway.
First up is a blurry photo of Senator Becky Whitley at the mic, that also features the backs of the heads of Cheshire County Democratic Chair Mohammad Saleh and lone Democratic Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington.
Becky Whitley represents Concord, Penacook, Hopkinton, and Bow. As her
website says "her entire career has been committed to social justice and public service, as a disability rights lawyer, climate activist and organizer, child health policy specialist and advocate..." She also a mom although, oddly enough, not to either of the children clinging to her in the photo.
Those children in fact belong to Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, who represents a c
hunk of the Seacoast. and who was there to receive the "Progressive Legislator of the Year Award."
That's her in the orange. Among other accomplishments, this year Rebecca co-founded the Bipartisan Housing Caucus which, OMG, if only that had existed years ago, maybe the rent wouldn't be too damn high.
Next there were Pradhiti Modadugu, Hunter Porter, Samay Sahu and of the New Hampshire High School Dems, accepting an award on behalf of that organization. This party, we have a great future.
The venerable Senator Cindy Rosenwald, who represents Nashua, was up after that, accepting the "Martha and Jeff Clark Honorary Young Democrat Award" from NHYD President Manny Espita, who credited her with getting him to run for office. Cindy has been in the legislature since 2004, and doing good things in the Senate since 2018.
The first of two "Progressive of the Year Awards" went to Jason Bonilla, who was appointed to the Manchester School Board representing Ward 5 a couple years ago and is running for re-election right now. Jason is the son of Salvadoran immigrants who walked to this country so he could run.
Next up, what can I begin to say about Representative Amanda Toll? I know her as the Vice-Chair of the Keene City Democrats (I'm the Treasurer), but it seems that the rest the world has now caught on to her talent as an organizer. In addition to helping to realize a string of progressive wins for House seats in Cheshire County last year, she was recently elected Co-chair of the NH House Progressive Caucus.
I spent a lot of time with Amanda on the campaign trail last year, and she was pregnant at the time. Since then she has given birth to an actual human being. Its amazing, what she does, and this "Progressive of the Year" award is richly deserved.
Here is a picture of the people with the two toughest jobs in Concord -- Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy presenting the "C. Arthur Soucy Award for Achievement" to House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm.
C. Arthur Soucy, was the founding president of the New Hampshire Young Democrats, as Donna, his daughter, told it, from back in the days of John F. Kennedy.
The final award, the "Young Democrat of the Year", went to Rachel Cole, who has been Legislative Policy Assistant to the NH House Democratic Leader for almost five years now. It sounds like she's been doing dynamite work, and its nice to see recognition that an effective Democratic party requires not only elected leaders, but also a solid core of professional staff working behind the scenes to support them.
In conclusion, we have some great Democrats in New Hampshire who give us good reason to have pride in Team Blue.