EMILYs List Endorses Two Local Candidates in New Hampshire

For Immediate Release
October 14, 2021

EMILYs List Endorses Two Local Candidates in New Hampshire

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed two New Hampshire leaders: Shoshanna Kelly, running for reelection for Nashua Board of Aldermen at-large; and Palana Hunt-Hawkins, running for mayor of Rochester. Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement:

“EMILYs List is thrilled to endorse Shoshanna Kelly for Nashua Board of Alderman at-large and Palana Hunt-Hawkins for mayor of Rochester. Since taking office as alderwoman, Shoshanna has worked to strengthen Nashua’s public schools, develop the downtown area to help small businesses flourish, and move the city forward. Palana has been a dedicated public servant and has spent her time as a Rochester city councilor fighting for justice and equity for underserved groups in her community. Electing Shoshanna and Palana will help make New Hampshire a more prosperous and fair place to work, live, and raise a family.”  ​

Shoshanna Kelly is an alderwoman at-large and business owner in Nashua. She is a proud, young Nashuan with deep roots in the community. Along with serving on the Board of Aldermen, she serves on the boards of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter and Symphony NH. Shoshanna lives in Ward 5 with her husband, Dave, their two children, Elsa and Miles, and their three chickens, Lizzo, Ingrid, and Taylor.

Palana Hunt-Hawkins is currently completing her first term as a Rochester city councilor. In 2016, Palana came out as transgender and threw herself into efforts to pass transgender nondiscrimination protections in New Hampshire. She also worked to expand identification options for nonbinary people on state identification cards. If elected, Palana will be the first openly transgender mayor in Rochester and New Hampshire’s history.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 158 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40 percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.