Nashua independents
Nashua's 88,000 people make it the second largest community in New Hampshire. The city is located in the south central part of the state near the Massachusetts border, and has twice been named "Best Place to Live in America" in annual surveys by Money magazine. Nashua's median household income of $52,000 is slightly below the New Hampshire average, and its residents are somewhat younger than the state as a whole.
Like many New Hampshire communities, Nashua has more independents than voters registered with either major political party. In all, 43% of voters are independents, 30% are Democrats, and 26% are Republicans. In recent years the independents have backed Democrats more often than not.
The city voted heavily Democratic in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, with John Kerry defeating George W. Bush 54% to 45% and Al Gore defeating Bush 53% to 43%. Democratic challenger Paul Hodes won Nashua by 12 points in his 2006 victory over incumbent Republican US Rep. Charlie Bass. When the two faced each other for the same office in 2004, Bass was the winner, 55% to 40%.
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Jackie CarolanCarolan is director of advertising and sales for a weather forecasting company in Nashua, and has lived in the city for 16 years.
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Ian CoteIan Cote, a married 34-year-old network engineer who has lived in Nashua for more than three years, has been a life long independent. He is spiritually minded, an avid gamer, and a gun owner.
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Joe DistefanoDistefano makes transmission line maps for an electric utility company and has lived in Nashua for 34 years.
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Heather ElliottElliott is a mother of five children and an army veteran who has lived in Nashua for 20 years.
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Tami LittletonTami Littleton, who works in special education, moved back to Nashua 10 years ago. She attends graduate school, and is now married with two teens at home and another stationed in Alaska with the US Army.
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Donna Lee RichardsA resident of Nashua for twenty years, Richards transplanted from suburb Northwest of Boston. She is a small business owner, a writer / marketer / finance executive, and mother of two teens.
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Denise RockRock has lived in Nashua and been a middle school science teacher for 8-1/2 years. She is also a member of the NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers.
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Leslie SchulerSchuler has served as the director of programming for the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce since July of 2006 and moved to Nashua this past August.
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Marty WalshThe buzz surrounding the New Hampshire primaries brings Marty Walsh, who’s lived in Nashua for the past 5 years, back to his college days when he was involved in a grass-roots mayoral campaign to unseat a political heavyweight.
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