Rachael T. Booth
From Ballotpedia
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Rachael T. Booth (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives to represent Grafton 5. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Booth completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rachael T. Booth was born in Bryan, Ohio. She served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1977. She earned a high school diploma from Tinora High School and a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in 1990. Booth's career experience includes working as a computer programmer, linguist, musician, and entertainer. Booth has been affiliated with New England Disabled Sports.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: New Hampshire House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 (2 seats)
Incumbent Roderick Ladd and Marie Louise Bjelobrk defeated Rachael T. Booth and Dustin Vigneault in the general election for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Roderick Ladd (R) | 31.1 | 2,126 |
| ✔ |  | Marie Louise Bjelobrk (R) | 30.6 | 2,088 |
 | Rachael T. Booth (D)  | 20.1 | 1,375 | |
 | Dustin Vigneault (D) | 17.8 | 1,217 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 25 | ||
| Total votes: 6,831 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 (2 seats)
Rachael T. Booth and Dustin Vigneault advanced from the Democratic primary for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 on September 10, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachael T. Booth | 54.7 | 350 |
| ✔ | | Dustin Vigneault | 42.5 | 272 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.8 | 18 | ||
| Total votes: 640 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 (2 seats)
Incumbent Roderick Ladd and Marie Louise Bjelobrk defeated Greg Mathieson in the Republican primary for New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 on September 10, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Roderick Ladd | 38.1 | 454 |
| ✔ | | Marie Louise Bjelobrk | 34.5 | 411 |
 | Greg Mathieson | 25.3 | 302 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.1 | 25 | ||
| Total votes: 1,192 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
To view Booth's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Booth in this election.
2016
Elections for the New Hampshire House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on September 13, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 10, 2016. Incumbent Paul Ingbretson (R) did not seek re-election.
David W. Binford defeated Rachael T. Booth in the New Hampshire House of Representatives District Grafton 15 general election.[3][4]
| New Hampshire House of Representatives, District Grafton 15 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  David W. Binford |
56.21% | 2,572 | |
| Democratic | Rachael T. Booth | 43.79% | 2,004 | |
| Total Votes | 4,576 | |||
| Source: New Hampshire Secretary of State | ||||
Rachael T. Booth ran unopposed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives District Grafton 15 Democratic primary.[5][6]
| New Hampshire House of Representatives, District Grafton 15 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Rachael T. Booth (unopposed) | |
David W. Binford ran unopposed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives District Grafton 15 Republican primary.[5][6]
| New Hampshire House of Representatives, District Grafton 15 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | David W. Binford (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rachael T. Booth completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Booth's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am Vietnam veteran, linguist, retired computer scientist, teacher, author, entertainer, and elected member of my town's 3-person Selectboard (a mayoral position equivavent). I am running for one of two seats in my gerrymandered district that are currently being held by Republicans. My candidacy is based on my outrage at the loss of women's and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as to stop the state school voucher system that is draining much needed money from our public schools and allowing parents to use the money to send their kids to a different school than the one in their area, home school the children, or send them to religious-based schools - all paid for by taxpayers. Our current taxes are not distributed equally and the lower-populated counties get less money, causing their property taxes to go up and feeding the rising taxes circle. I am also fighting for the rights of trans-kids to be treated fairly based on reality and not on misguided opinions that are detrimental to the kids. I am also running to enact common sense gun laws and to stop cherry-picking what our children are taught in schools.
- I want to restore a woman's right to choose what to do with her body and get rid of ridiculous and harmful rules on when an abortion can be performed.
- I want to abolish the state's unconstitutional school voucher system that allows people to send their children to religious-based schools using taxpayer money.
- I want to enact common sense gun laws to protect our children - abolish the sales of military-grade weapons to non-police and non-military people, increase background checks, and make gun owners responsible for crimes committed with their weapons.
I am most passionate about protecting a woman's right to choose what she does about her own body, that our children are taught ALL history in schools, to abolish the school voucher system in NH, and to protect transgender kids from the ill-informed populace trying to keep them from the psychological and medical help they need.
The person I look up to the most is Abraham Lincoln. His courage to do the right thing - emancipation - in the face of a raging war about slavery, was incredible. His ability to turn political enemies into staunch supporters was the greatest example of effective collaboration in our country's history.
The very best thing to watch on TV that aligns with my political philosphy is the old show "The West Wing". The best book to read would be Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" about how Abraham Lincoln worked with his political rivals to create one of the best governments our country has ever had.
The single most important characterist for any elected official is to actuall listen to their constituents past asking for their votes. Too many elected officials follow their party blindly even though the majority of their constituents may not agree with what the party wants to do. It's critical to keep the lines of communication with your voters open and know that they can talk to you and air their grievances at any time. It is also of the utmost importance that no person elected to office EVER accept money from any company or PAC no matter how much they believe in what that company stands for. Any money taken from one of these places makes an elected official seem like they're "on the take" and beholden to special interests.
I am very empathetic to the needs of people and am an excellent communicator. I am very well read and an accomplished writer and author with a history of working with people in business including high ranking military officers from the US and other countries. I speak five languages which makes me very valuable in communicating with people.
Every elected official needs to remember the people who elected them and know that they didn't just put you in office - they put you there to work for THEM. Too many elected people forget that. It is also critical that they stop looking at people of the "other" party as enemies and learn to work WITH them, understanding that they want to improve the country just as much as you do but just have a different view of how to go about it. The greatest ability of anyone elected to office is to be able to compromise.
I want to leave a legacy that I was someone who made a difference for the people. That I was honest, trusted, and cared about people, putting them first before myself and any special interests.
I was in the 7th grade in 1963 when we were all called from our classes to come to the gym for a unexpected school gathering. The teachers came in, most crying, and told us that president Kennedy had been killed. We were all stunned. To think taht someone would kill a president was a shock but to see our teachers crying and struggling to tell us the news made us realize that our teachers were just people like everyone else.
My very first job was unpaid. I volunteered to work in the school cafeteria which helped my parents because I didn't have to pay for school lunches. It taught me responsibility in helping my family's finances and how to work with people. I enjoyed working with the cooks and learned not worry about what the other kids thought about me for doing a job that was considered menial instead of hanging out with the. I learned responsibility and how to work with and for people.
My favorite book ever is Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet". The life philosphy in this book is the closest thing I can get to religion.
I always loved the comic book Spiderman because the hero was a nerd in school who secretly was stronger than anyone else but never let it go to his head, making him think he was better than anyone else. That was always me - and still is. I may be intelligent but I've never thought I was smarter than anyone else. I've just had more experiences and learning than most people and made the most of it.
When I first heard Carlos Santana's "Smooth", I couldn't get that song out of my head for a very long time. It is still one of my very favorite songs. But the one piece of music I can NEVER get out of my head since I first heard it when I was young is Johann Sebasetian Bach's 3rd Brandenburg Concerto. It's even the ring tone on my phone.
My biggest struggle in life was to become my true self at the age of 40 - almost 33 years ago. Although I was born with a male body, I knew I was female but, because I was born in 1951, there was nothing I could do but try to live in society as it demanded, getting married, having children, etc. Every day was a challenge to try to live to to see the next. To keep my mind away from dark thoughts, I kept it busy learning new things, going to school (2 college degree programs at the same time after work), martial arts (I hold a 2nd degree black belt in Okinawa Kenpo), music (I've been playing guitar and singing semi-professionally for over 50 years), teaching basic backpacking and wilderness survival, and writing (I'm the author of 3 books so far). This self-preservation technique kept me alive until the one time I faltered and tried to commit suicide. That was the moment I knew I had to become who I really was at a time when no one had even heard of anyone doing such a thing, but not caring what anyone thought. I had to survive. In 1991 I changed my life for the better and have never looked back.
The state legislature's main task is to work with the governor to enact laws that enhance the rights of the state's citizens and help to make their lives easier (lower taxes, maintaining people's rights, etc.). If the governor is wrong and going against the explicit demands of the populace, then it is up to the state legislature to keep the governor in check by blocking damaging legislation and then working with her/him to find a compromise that will work for all parties, especially the populace.
Our state only has one tax - property tax. That money has to be used to pay for all state expenses: roads, education, everything any state must pay for. That money is not distributed well enough in the state and it is never enough. One of the problems in New Hampshire is that if any political candidate even mentions the possibility of enacting any kind of sales tax or income tax, their candidacy is done. Everyone wants more money coming into the state but nobody agrees on how to do it or how to more equitably distribute the money the state does take in. The people who are hurt worse by this are those in the northern part of the state where I live - almost all rural and with much smaller incomes. School vouchers take money away from the public school system and property taxes increase to make up for the loss. It's an endless cycle of single-source taxation that is making living in the state, especially in the north, so difficult that people are moving. There has to be a better way of getting money into the state. The best way of doing that without raising taxes is to make the north country more amenable to high-tech companies to set up business here. That means an increase in public transportation (which is practically non-existent in the north) and a better road system to allow greater access to the area, among other things.
State legislators were always meant to be "the people" and not career politicians. While it is not critical for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics, I believe it IS important that legislators have experience in management and workign with people, especially having expertise in communication and compromising with others.
It is more important for legislators to have a good relationship with those in the other party than anything else. Without that, the cycle of "us and them" continues and nothing gets done.
At a state level, I have no real role models that I can think of, but I think one of our greatest legislators I can think of who knows exactly how to work with people and compromise is President Biden.
I am not interested in any higher office.
While running for office, I am hearing anger from more and more people about how awful our current education system is in this state. They are outraged that their tax money is not being distributed fairly and that some of it is going to send kids to religious schools. The other thing I hear is the anger coming from women that their daughters have less rights over their own bodies than they did when they were younger.
Did you hear about the masochist who married the sadist? The masochist said, "Hurt me!". The sadist said, "No." And they lived happily every after.
I believe that state legislature should have some say on the governor's ability to grant or use emergency powers in some instances. Granting emergency aid in the case of natural disasters should be an automatic right of the governor but she/he must work with the legislature on how the money is spent and where it's coming from. However, the governor should not have carte blanche to activate state police or military units.
The first bill I would introduce would be to enshrine women's rights for bodily autonomy into our state constitution.
I have been endorsed so far by VoteVets, the NH NEA, the Teamsters of NH, The Center for Freethought Equality, and am expecting an endorsement from the LGBTQ Victory Fund and the Sierra Club.
I am interested in any committee that has say on our educational system and for LGBTQ+ rights. I am also interested in any committee that works with veterans and homelessness.
All elected officials MUST disclose where their money comes from to show their constituents they are honest and not taking money or gifts from special interests or lobbyists. One of the biggest problems people have with their government is that they don't trust their elected officials to be honest on open - that they are all in power just to make money.
Any attempt to do anything but abolish the state's unfair and unconstitutional school voucher system would be detrimental to the people of New Hampshire.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Booth submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on September 13, 2024.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Rachael T. Booth New Hampshire House. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate New Hampshire House of Representatives Grafton 5 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 11, 2024
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 13, 2024
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "General Election - November 8, 2016," accessed October 25, 2016
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "General Election Results - 2016," accessed December 23, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 New Hampshire Secretary of State, "State Primary - September 13, 2016," accessed June 22, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 New Hampshire Secretary of State, "2016 Primary election results," accessed November 21, 2016
Current members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
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