Who we are:

Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.

“It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together.”

– The 2016 Democratic Party Platform

You’ll find the entire  National Platform and WHAT WE STAND FOR here: https://www.democrats.org/party-platform

The New Hampshire Democratic Platform,  as approved by acclamation by 2018 State Convention Delegates on June 23, 2018, can be found here:  https://www.nhdp.org/platform

North Country Democratic Platform

Northern Grafton County Democrats

We’re for YOU!  

We’re committed to:

Affordable and accessible healthcare for all

  • Expanded healthcare access for women and families

– Access to a full range of reproductive healthcare

  • Accessible healthcare access for veterans

– Fix Veterans Choice program

  • Reauthorized Medicaid expansion made permanent
  • Expanded substance misuse & addiction treatment
  • Expanded North Country resources available and accessible.
  • Increased resources for mental health treatment
  • Advocating for gun safety – assuring responsible gun ownership and safe public environments.

Good jobs, livable pay/wages

  • Favorable business climate bringing access to good jobs with fair, competitive wages and benefits.
  • Safe working conditions

High-speed broadband and reliable cell phone service everywhere

  • Significantly expanded and upgraded Internet capacity and cellular phone accessibility across the region to attract new businesses, facilitate jobs to retain young people, and grow the economy

High-quality public education

  • Promote access to quality public education from early childhood through college.
  • Support access to public preschool and early intervention services
  • Promote affordable access to NH public community colleges, colleges, and universities


Promoting affordable, clean, renewable energy

  • Promote energy efficiency, conservation, clean energy technologies and utilization of NH renewable energy sources.

Effective social services readily available

  • Maintain available programs to ensure a basic level of human dignity and the opportunity for people to lift themselves out of poverty, addiction or hopelessness

Preserving healthy air, clean water and the natural beauty and recreational opportunities of the North Country of NH

  • Support the protection of land we can cultivate, air we can breathe, water we can drink, and streams and lakes we can fish

Assuring voting rights and accessibility for all

  • Support modern and painless voter registration processes
  • Encourage as many people as possible to take part in our election processes
  • Maintain the integrity of our election system
  • Protect the constitutional voting rights for citizens.
  • Oppose efforts to intimidate voters at the polls and to suppress the vote.

Protecting Social Security and Medicare

  • Maintain the promise of retirement income and medical benefits established under Social Security and Medicare that we paid for with our payroll taxes
  • Ensure the availability of community-based services for individuals with disabilities, physical and mental illnesses and low-income children and elderly residents

Investing in infrastructure & local development initiatives

  • Promote the allocation of federal and state funding for local “revitalization” projects such as Littleton’s riverfront renewal.
  • Support for local public transportation where needed.

The Northern Grafton County Democrats organization is comprised of Democrats from twelve New Hampshire towns in Grafton County: Bath, Benton, Bethlehem, Easton, Franconia, Haverhill, Landaff, Lisbon, Littleton, Lyman, Monroe, and Sugar Hill.

These towns form all or part of the following New Hampshire State Legislative Districts: Grafton 01, 02, 03, and Grafton Floterial Districts 14 and 15.  These towns are also part of New Hampshire State Senate Districts 01 and 02.

Northern Grafton County Leadership

We are fortunate to have strong leadership in Northern Grafton County and a wealth of dedicated and passionate individuals.

Our caucus was held on 3/24/2019 with Susan Moore and Betsey Phillips elected to Co-Chair the Northern Grafton County Democrats.

The 2019 NGCD Leadership team is:

  • Co-Chair: Susan Moore, Franconia

Susan is a retired Information Technology executive and manager who worked in the insurance industry for over 30 years. During her career, she was responsible for developing and implementing complex Financial and Human Resource systems. She is a founder of Adaptive Sports Partners of the North Country (ASPNC), an organization that provides sport and recreation opportunities for people with disabilities.  Susan is the Supervisor of the Checklist for Franconia where she has lived since 2004.

  • Co-Chair: Betsey Phillips, Bethlehem
Betsey is a retired elementary school teacher, having taught in both New York City and Boston.  She honed her activist skills in Boston in the civil rights era of the 60’s. She was an active volunteer in the early years of the hospice movement in the US, associated with the hospice at Beverly Hospital in Beverly, MA. After moving to Franconia, New Hampshire in 1989 she volunteered in the early years of the Support Center Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the Frost Place and The White Mountain School. After a rewarding career as a full time mom and with both children off to college, she returned to teaching in the children’s ski program at Cannon Mountain. She served a six year term as a Supervisor of the Checklist in Franconia.
She and her husband Chuck have happily dedicated many hours to the Northern Grafton County Democrats since 2006. She is currently the vice-chair of the NGCDs and chair of the Bethlehem Democratic Town Committee.
  • Vice Chair: Claire Von Karls, Sugar Hill

Claire is a Clinical Social Worker and Group Facilitator in Sugar Hill. Before moving to NH in 1999, she and her husband owned and operated a private mental health center in Annapolis, Maryland.After settling here, Claire devoted her volunteer time to many community organizations. She was president of the Profile School’s PTO (Parent Teacher Organization), as well as, serving on the Board of Directors of Burch House, Northern NH Arts Alliance, WREN, Neskaya, and, most recently, OAKS (Organized Acts of Kindness for Seniors). She is currently secretary for The Willing Workers of Sugar Hill, and co-director for the new Lafayette Regional School Back Pack Program. She has also volunteered for Hospice and NAMI (National Association on  Mental Illness).Claire has presented at numerous conferences, including the Mt. Washington Women’s Wellness Conference at Bretton Woods, on mental health topics, dream work, and meditation.Claire became active in NGCD in 2008. Shortly after, she joined the steering committee, and became delegate at-large for the Democratic Committee for Sugar Hill. In 2012, she and Betsey formed the Women’s Education and Action Political Group. Claire is currently the vice chair of NGCD, and vice chair of the Democratic Town Committee of Sugar Hill.

  • Treasurer: Heidi Sagar, Landaff

Bio coming soon!

  • Secretary: Katharine Terrie, Littleton

Katharine Terrie is a former Chair of the Northern Grafton County Democrats and the current Chair of the Littleton Democratic Committee.   She has spent 40 years working with underserved populations to improve access to health care and human services in rural areas of Southern West Virginia and Northern New Hampshire.  She is passionately pro-choice and believes that a social conscience is a pre-requisite for all political candidates and everyone else as well.

Northern Grafton County Democrats Town Committee Officers

The Chair of each town is a member of the Steering Committee.

Northern Grafton County Democrats form a subgroup of the Grafton County Democrats.

Sue Ford from Easton is Chair of the Grafton County Democrats.

Bath Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Linda Lauer

Bethlehem Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Betsey Phillips

Vice Chair: Louisa Bliss

Treasurer: Rob Constantine

Secretary: Chuck Phillips

Delegate At-large: Emily Russell

Easton Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Wren Miller

Vice Chair: Beth Harwood

Treasurer: Denys Draper

Secretary: John Vail

Delegate At-large: Mary Jo Green

Franconia Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Susan Moore

Vice Chair: Jill Brewer

Treasurer: Vicky Cole

Secretary: Priscilla Hindley

Delegate At-large: Jim Moore

Haverhill Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Marianne Farr

Vice Chair: Dylan Farr

Landaff Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Richard Sagar

Vice Chair: Heidi Sagar

Littleton Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Katharine Terrie

Vice Chair: Deb Bassett

Treasurer: Gal Potashnick

Secretary: Elaine French

Delegate At-large: Sally Sherrad

Lyman Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Don Perlee

Vice Chair: Linda Robinson

Sugar Hill Democratic Town Committee

Chair: Carl Martland

Vice Chair: Jess Abdallah-Goldberg

Treasurer: Rebecca Brown

Secretary: Doug Evelyn

Delegate At-large: Claire VonKarls