My votes in the NH House session
of May 21, 2026

With one exception, today’s votes were whether to concur with Senate changes to House bills. The exception was the last vote of the day, about whether to accept the report of the Legislative Administration Committee that recommended that Rep. Travis Corcoran (R-Weare) be censured.

We do not censure members often. I wrote on April 9 about Rep. Corcoran’s highly offensive posts on X. The original motion in the Legislative Administration Committee’s executive session was to recommend a reprimand; this motion came from Chair Greg Hill (R-Northfield) and was seconded by Rep. Jeannine Notter (R-Merrimack). (Rep. Notter is also a member of my committee, Science, Technology and Energy.) During the executive session, Rep. Notter read an emotional statement about the Holocaust, after which both parties went into caucus. When they came back, the motion for reprimand was withdrawn and changed to a motion for censure. The committee voted 10-2 for censure.

When the matter finally came to the floor on May 21, we were not sure what to expect. Rep. Corcoran had to be present to be censured, and perhaps he might not show up? Turned out that he had posted that he was definitely going to be there. The longest speech during the debate was by Rep. Donald McFarlane (R-Orange) who defended Corcoran in what I would characterize as long and blustery. Then Corcoran spoke. He was brief and non-apologetic. He ended by asking us to vote for the censure motion. Finally, Minority Leader Alexis Simpson (D-Exeter) spoke for a few minutes in favor of the censure motion. The motion to Affirm the Report (i.e., censure) passed on a roll call vote 288-54. Rep. Corcoran was then called to the well, where Deputy Speaker Steve Smith read a short statement telling him that the House had voted to censure him. Corcoran flashed “V” signs with both hands and returned to his seat. After all the possible scenarios, including the possibility of someone moving to expel Corcoran, it felt anticlimactic. And just as well.

After the vote on Rep. Corcoran, my seatmate and ranking member, Rep. Kat McGhee (D-Hollis), moved to remove from the table the motion to restore access for Rep. Ellen Read. It failed on a roll call vote 158-179.