Rep. Jeb Bradley (R) Elected 2002, 1st term
Born:	Oct. 20, 1952, Rumford, ME
Home:	Wolfeboro
Education:	Tufts U., B.A. 1974
Religion:	Protestant
Marital Status:	married (Barbara)
Elected  Office:	NH House of Reps., 1990-2002.
Professional Career:	Owner, Evergrain Health Food store, 1981-97; Magician.
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The greatest growth in New Hampshire over the past two decades has been in the southeast and south central parts of the state--the Seacoast and the Manchester area. Manchester was once famous for the Amoskeag Mills, the world's largest textile mill complex and in the first half of the 20th century was the quintessential mill town, with a few mansions for mill owners and managers and close packed neighborhoods of frame houses for mill workers, many of them immigrants--from Quebec, Ireland and Greece (Manchester has America's largest percentage of Greek Americans). By the beginning of the 21st century it was something quite different, a high-tech city, with big shopping malls at freeway interchanges, a spiffy new airport, spruced up neighborhoods and growth extending to the wooded suburbs all around. The Seacoast, within easy commuting distance of Massachusetts, is a collection of towns of ancient pedigree and high-tech growth. The biggest city on the coast is Portsmouth, the colonial capital of New Hampshire, an old seaport with well-preserved houses and a booming economy. The successful redevelopment of Pease Air Force Base after its 1991 closing into the Pease International Tradeport, with what developers termed high-end office buildings in an international trade environment (plus a convenient airport runway), has driven the Seacoast (sometimes called e-coast) economy with more than 160 businesses and several thousand jobs. Nearby is Exeter, home of Phillips Exeter Academy, on a campus most colleges would envy; it is also the home of Tyco, the conglomerate whose flamboyant CEO Dennis Kozlowski famously cooked the books.

The 1st Congressional District includes the Manchester area and the Seacoast from Manchester and next-door Bedford, its most affluent suburb, east to Portsmouth. It also extends north to Laconia and Lake Winnipesaukee, studded with summer resorts and Ossipee in Carroll County, which promotes rock and ice climbing. Politically, this is the more Republican of New Hampshire's two congressional districts: people came here from Massachusetts not to replicate its high-tax environment but to get away from it. Manchester, the largest city in the state, still has more registered Democrats than Republicans--a relic of its mill town days--but almost always votes Republican in general elections. Portsmouth, with its trendy coffee shops, is Democratic, and so is Durham, home of the University of New Hampshire, and nearby Dover, once a mill town. But most of the smaller towns in the Seacoast and to the north are solidly Republican.

The congressman from the 1st District is Jeb Bradley, a Republican elected in 2002. He grew up in Wolfeboro on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee and worked summers at his family's hardware store. He graduated from Tufts and met his wife--a native of Switzerland--in Nepal on a mountaineering adventure. He had a varied professional career, from running a health-food store to serving as a professional magician--arguably a useful background for his current job. In the often provincial world of New Hampshire politics, he was suspect because he switched parties in 1989, becoming a Republican one year before he ran for the state legislature, where he served for 12 years. As chairman of the Science, Technology and Energy Committee, he passed an electricity deregulation bill for the state with the nation's highest electricity costs. The Public Service Company of New Hampshire objected to the plan and sued in federal court; the state reached a settlement, which the Legislature approved at Bradley's urging.

In October 2001, 1st District Congressman John Sununu announced that he was running for the Senate. Bradley was one of eight candidates in the Republican primary. There was no obvious frontrunner, and the candidates were of different ideologies and from different parts of the district. Bradley characterized himself as a moderate in favor of abortion rights and a fiscal conservative who voted against both sales and income taxes. He also supported gay adoption and environmental restriction measures--positions too liberal for many Republicans. Meanwhile, businessman Sean Mahoney and assistant state Safety Commissioner John Stephen fought over who was the "true conservative" in the field; Stephen won the backing of some national conservative groups and the endorsement of the Manchester Union Leader. Bradley won the primary with 31%, as Stephen won 23% and Mahoney 19%. This race was ideological, but also regional. Stephen carried Manchester and most of the nearby towns, but Bradley edged him in Merrimack, Londonderry and Derry. Mahoney carried Portsmouth and most of the nearby towns, but Bradley led in Durham and Dover. Bradley carried all but one of the towns north of Durham; many cast only a few votes, but Bradley won a large share of them, and they added up.

In the general election, Bradley faced Martha Fuller Clark, who had held Sununu to a 53%-45% margin in 2000. Clark, from Portsmouth, served from 1990 to 2000 in the state House; she spent $1 million in 2000 and never stopped campaigning after the election. She was one of the national Democratic party's favorite candidates and benefited from contributions and campaign appearances from potential presidential candidates. For 2002 she raised the phenomenal sum of $3.5 million (including $1.6 million of her own money), while Bradley, who faced a seriously contested primary as well as the general, spent $1 million. Bradley said that funding for special education was a high priority and called for modernization of weapons systems and pay raises for military personnel. Bradley attacked Clark for her support of a state income tax--anathema to many New Hampshire voters. Clark responded by mining Bradley's legislative record and pointing to votes for business, inheritance and consumption taxes. Clark charged that Bradley favored "privatization" of Social Security. In a radio interview he said that individual investment accounts should be a matter for discussion, but afterward said that his opposition to "privatization" was "crystal clear." But this was still another district where the Social Security issue did not produce the magic Democrats expected. Instead, the income tax proved to be a millstone for Clark. Clark was also damaged by Republican attacks on her participation in a January 2002 conference hosted by Northeast Action--a coalition of labor, environmental and other liberal interest groups, which curiously included the Communist Party USA.

Bradley won by a surprisingly large 58%-39%. He carried Manchester 56%-40% and Bedford 73%-26%. Clark carried Portsmouth 56%-40% and Durham 62%-35%, plus next-door Lee and Newmarket, and lost every other city and town.

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DC Office
1218 LHOB 20515, 202-225-5456; Fax: 202-225-5822; Web site: www.house.gov/bradley

State Offices
Dover, 603-743-4813; Manchester, 603-641-9536.

Committees

• Armed Services (26th of 33 R): Projection Forces; Tactical Air & Land Forces.
• Small Business (15th of 18 R): Regulatory Reform & Oversight; Workforce, Empowerment & Government Programs.
• Veterans' Affairs (13th of 17 R): Benefits; Health.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Jeb Bradley (R)	128,993	58%	$1,029,408
	Martha Clark (D)	85,426	39%	$3,511,108
	Other	7,568	3%
2002 primary	Jeb Bradley (R)	23,012	31%
	John Stephen (R)	16,956	23%
	Sean Mahoney (R)	13,861	19%
	Vivian Clark (R)	6,889	9%
	Wayne Barrow (R)	6,008	8%
	Fran Wendelboe (R)	4,947	7%
	Other	1,648	3%
2000 general	John Sununu (R)	150,609	53%	$578,633
	Martha Clark (D)	128,387	45%	$1,055,513
	Other	5,713	2%

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	136,474	49%
	Gore (D)	128,278	46%
	Other	11,545	4%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the First District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 2
• District Size: 2,688 square miles
• Population in 2000: 617,575; 66.6% urban; 33.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $50,135; 6.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 23.6% blue collar; 62.7% white collar; 13.7% gray collar; 15.0% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 95.1% White, 0.7% Black, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.9% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.6% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 14.6% Irish, 12.7% English, 10.5% French
• Click here for statewide demographic data.