David Paige was inspired to run for state representative by his commitment to supporting working families, kids, and educators in the Valley. Since his election in 2022, David has successfully fought for our shared values and for the interests of his neighbors in Conway. David is running again to continue defending our rights from the attacks of extremists in the state legislature and to refocus on the issues that matter to working families.

Childcare and Housing

Access to affordable, high-quality childcare and housing are two of the greatest challenges currently facing the Granite State. These twin issues drive our workforce shortages and also keep young families from being able to stay and build their lives here in the Valley. David is proud to have led in Concord on these issues.

As a leader serving on the House’s Special Committee on Childcare, David arranged for listening sessions around the state, including through the North Country, to identify problems and prospective solutions to the crisis by speaking directly to the families and providers most impacted.

Over the last two years, he has passed multiple bills addressing childcare’s challenges, including legislation designed to help centers keep classrooms open and legislation to reduce the regulatory burden for people opening small, in-home childcare facilities.

He is also proud to serve on the legislature’s bipartisan, bicameral “housing caucus,” where senators and representatives from both parties come together to find common ground and drive progress of housing issues. Among the many housing related initiatives David supported, he was proud to see the legislature pass language he co-sponsored that gives towns the ability to provide tax incentives for converting office, industrial, and retail space into housing.

Standing Up for Quality Education for All

David is a recognized leader at the state and national level on school censorship issues. Prior to serving in the legislature, he served as division president of the American Library Association, where he developed their national campaign to address our country’s escalating problem with book banning as part of their rapid response task force.

Since his election, David has since worked hard to defeat multiple pieces of legislation that would have censored books in New Hampshire, for which he was honored to receive the New Hampshire School Library Media Association’s Partner of the Year Award. He was also humbled to accept the Democratic Party’s Spirit of Opportunity Award, presented by Senator Maggie Hassan, in recognition of his work on making schools welcoming places for all students and for his advocacy on behalf of early childhood education.

David has been a member of the National Council for the Social Studies for nearly twenty years and spent much of his early career in the publishing industry developing social studies textbook materials for grades 6 through 12.

Property Tax Relief

With his colleagues Rep. Tom Buco and Rep. Steve Woodcock, David is part of the team advocating on behalf of the people of Conway for meaningful property tax relief. These commonsense property tax solutions were defeated by the Republican House majority in 2024. David will continue to advocate for a homestead property tax exemption, which would shift the tax burden away from local homeowners, and for solutions for tourist towns like ours to draw more revenue from visitors.

David also opposed the total elimination of the state’s interest and dividends tax. This tax cut benefits ultrawealthy Granite Staters earning more than $200,000/year in interest and dividend income, and it continues the pattern of downshifting the cost of running the state onto low and middle-income property tax payers. He opposes the reckless “Education Freedom Accounts” program which provides public funds to private and religious schools—this same money could be used to help shift the cost of running our public schools away from local taxpayers.

Family

David is proud to represent rural New Hampshire as an out LGBT man. He met his husband, William Abbott, in Maine in 2002 and they married in 2008 in the midst of the fight for marriage equality. Their two beautiful kids, ages 7 and 9, are the 10^th generation of David’s family to live in their family homestead on the West Side. David considers himself blessed to be able to raise his children surrounded by the natural beauty of our Valley in a home and landscape filled with memories of his beloved grandparents, Frank and Carol Kennett.