The Soapbox: I disagree with Dowd's endorsement of Pappas; Manzur has my vote
Nashua Ink Link | By Nick Scalera
Being born and raised in New Hampshire, I have always had, as so many of us who call the Granite State home, a chip on my shoulder when it comes to politics. From our seemingly eternal “Purple State” status to our First-in-the-Nation Primary (although maybe not for long), New Hampshire politics has never been conventional. That is why, when I read the Ink Link’s Soapbox earlier this month, I was almost taken aback seeing an endorsement for one of the most conventional Senate candidates in my living memory.
I say almost because this endorsement came from my own Alderman, Rick Dowd. Alderman Dowd has served this city for all of my adult life. I have voted for Alderman Dowd in every election I have been able to. As the son of a Nashua teacher, and now a teacher myself, I honor and respect Alderman Dowd’s tireless support for education in this city and his insistence on making Nashua a better city for its people. However, I disagree wholeheartedly with his endorsement of current Representative Chris Pappas for U.S. Senate in 2026.
This is a reckoning within the Democratic Party that we are seeing across the country right now. The base of the Party is deeply unhappy with its leadership, with a recent poll showing that only 63% of Democratic or likely Democratic voters view the Party favorably. The elected representatives of the Democratic Party are refusing to listen to what their voters are demanding of them.
I first met Chris Pappas when he was still an Executive Councilor, back in 2018. I was taking part in Boys State, a program organized by the American Legion that aims to, in its own words, “awaken within the youth of our nation a sincere conviction that a well-informed, intelligent, and involved citizenry is vitally needed to protect and preserve our American traditions,” One of sessions in a week that was full of mock trials, discussions around policy, and the other musings of a couple dozen highshoolers, was then-Councilor Pappas coming to talk to us about the inner-workings of our state.
Having taken the lessons I learned at Boys State, and my experiences working in youth politics in New Hampshire, and now teaching Social Studies to tomorrow’s minds, I cannot put my voice behind Chris Pappas. Rep. Pappas has served New Hampshire’s 1st District since winning his election that same year I met him at Boys State.
In his endorsement, Alderman Dowd repeatedly lauded Rep. Pappas as a fighter for the average, working-class Nashuan who is trying to get by in a rather perilous economic reality we find ourselves in. I don’t see that throughout Rep. Pappas’s House career, and the data would agree.
GovTrack.us is a data aggregator that helps citizens, as the name implies, track government actions. After every term of Congress, they give every Senator and every Representative a Report Card. Unlike other organizations such as the ACLU or NRA, these Report Cards have less to do with specific policy, per se, but more to do with how the official operates in their given Chamber. At the end of the last Congressional term (2022-2024), GovTrack rated Rep. Chris Pappas the second most politically right-wing Democrat in the House.
We can see this in the way that Rep. Pappas has rolled out the red carpet for the newest Trump Administration. What was one of Rep. Pappas’s first votes this term in January 2025? It wasn’t legislation to lower grocery prices, as Alderman Dowd claimed Rep Pappas is very concerned about. It was to join 45 other Democrats (including our own NH-02 Representative, Maggie Goodlander!) in siding with the GOP to pass the Laken Riley Act, a thoroughly racist piece of legislation that has caused untold damage to millions of people in this country via I.C.E.’s murderous tactics.
Rep. Pappas also does not have, as Alderman Dowd insinuated, “a proven record of standing up to corporate greed…,” In fact, Rep. Pappas has been on the receiving end of nearly $3 million of PAC and PAC donor money throughout his political career. Most of that money is coming directly from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and AIPAC donors. By siding with Israel throughout its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Rep. Pappas has played a foundational part in the now seemingly restarted Iran War. This illegal war of aggression by the United States and Israel has spiked fuel costs for all Americans, not just people in New Hampshire. And that is nothing to say about the thousands of lives needlessly slaughtered in Iran and Lebanon by American-made bombs.
As I try to instill in my high school students, it is good practice not to criticize something if you don’t have some idea on how to fix it. To that end, in light of my long-winded disagreement with Alderman Dowd and Rep. Pappas, I give my preferred candidate going into Primary Season: Dr. Karishma Manzur. Dr. Manzur is a medical scientist with a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry. She currently sits on two nonprofit Boards in the state, NH Ranked Choice Voting and NH Open Democracy Action, and was previously on the Board of NH Peace Action (which has also endorsed her in this race).
Dr. Manzur is a fighter for the working class, a true progressive, and someone who is going to be dedicated to ending our inhumane and immoral policies both at home and abroad. Dr. Manzur has committed to leading the charge on Medicare for All in the Senate, to drastically reduce the daunting cost of living crisis by building more housing and passing tenant protections, and to stop cutting blank checks to the Pentagon while our schools fall into disrepair. A better, more equitable type of politics is possible, one showcased by the newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, or another Senate hopeful in Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, or Rep. Summer Lee in Pennsylvania. I hope you all can join me in adding Dr. Karishma Manzur to that list on Primary Day, on September 8th!
Nick Scalera is a teacher who lives in Nashua.
