ABOUT JESSICA
I am running for my third term the Democratic candidate for the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Strafford District 17, Dover Ward 5. I have lived in Dover for fourteen years, working in residential home construction. My husband Doug Dodd, a longtime builder in the Seacoast, is mostly retired. I work part time doing kitchen and bath renovations and manage our rental property. My flexible work schedule allows me to prioritize my legislative work.
I also serve on the City of Dover Cemetery Board and on the Board of Directors of Community Action Partnership of Strafford County.
Together, Doug and I have five adult children and three grandchildren. In our free time, we hike, ride bikes, and share food with friends and family.
MY BACKGROUND
I was a public health nutritionist for 20 years in community health centers primarily with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program. Many of those years were in North Carolina where my first husband and I had a family farm raising turkeys, goats, and our own children. I am a native of Massachusetts and was grateful to be able to move back to New England to help take care of my aging parents, both of whom have now passed on.
I have always had a great passion for food and nutrition, spending my young adulthood cooking in restaurants and a homeless shelter in Boston. I earned my B. A. at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, majoring in Economics, and a M.S. at the University of California, Davis, in Nutrition and International Agricultural Development.
WHAT I BRING TO CONCORD
I have worked in both white and blue collar jobs. I have worked with members of our community who navigate social services because they struggle to make ends meet. I have also worked on million dollar homes. I believe my perspective in these two worlds helps me find creative solutions for our shared challenges and our social, economic and environmental future. As a small business owner, I understand the frustration of costs beyond our control, the lack of affordable health care, and the need for a decent living wage and affordable housing.
MY POLITICAL BELIEFS
I believe in democracy. I believe that affordable public education, fair elections, and a free press are essential to a functioning democracy. I believe we are all entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and I believe in the role of government at the local, state and federal level to ensure those liberties for all of our people.
I believe in the power of private enterprise and entrepreneurship and I was raised to do a good job at whatever I do. Strength of family, strength of community, and the value of hard work were deeply instilled in me at an early age.
My parents voted on opposite political sides, and there were often passionate political discussions at the supper table. Marriage was a partnership in our home. My mother was a school teacher, a union member, and managed all the family finances. My father was raised during the Great Depression and fought in WWII to defend democracy and fight fascism, who started than lost his own business. From them, I learned firsthand the value of the New Deal, the Social Security System, and the GI Bill, which allowed our family to thrive as part of the American middle class.
Post-war American prosperity and a progressive tax system allowed me to attend a state university. In the early 1980s I was able to pay my college tuition with earnings from my summer job, — a privilege that generations after me have not enjoyed, thanks to decades of tax cuts for the wealthy and the outsourcing of good manufacturing jobs. We now see a level of income and wealth inequality worse than any other time in American history. We need to reverse this trend.
During my second term in Concord, I will continue to work with colleagues across the aisle to find common ground and make progress on issues important to all of us. I will fight for working people and the middle class, and for a future in which our children and grandchildren can thrive.