Matt McLaughlin is the State Senator-elect for New Hampshire Senate District 9. McLaughlin is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, veteran, and experienced commercial pilot. In response, 314 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton released the following statement:
“Congratulations to Matt McLaughlin on his victory this evening. McLaughlin has spent his whole career in jobs where the data decides if people get home safely, He has overseen 350 landings on an aircraft carrier deck and spent three decades flying passengers around the world. Tonight, District 9 voters flipped a Republican seat, and the State Senate gained a member who follows the data, not the political winds of the time,” said 314 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton.
“Granite Staters are paying more every month to heat their homes and keep the lights on. McLaughlin is ready to counter Donald Trump’s agenda and help bring those bills down with data-driven policies in the statehouse designed to lower costs. He will stand up for public schools, defend workers’ rights and make evidence the starting point for policy in the Senate. We look forward to watching him put science to work for New Hampshire,” Naughton added.
For the past two years, Republican majorities in Concord have carried out Trump’s agenda in New Hampshire. They slashed public school funding, went after voting rights and civil liberties, and ignored the rising costs facing working families. With McLaughlin’s win, Democrats have won the majority needed to stop MAGA priorities from becoming state law.
A Bedford native, McLaughlin graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in oceanography and earned his Navy wings as a carrier-qualified jet pilot. He completed three deployments aboard the USS Nimitz and then spent 33 years as a commercial airline pilot with Northwest and Delta. In the State Senate, he plans to lower costs for families, expand clean energy, and protect workers’ right to organize.