For the past couple decades, Jeb Bradley was most often found in the halls of the New Hampshire State House or high atop White Mountain peaks.
The Senate president is retiring after eight consecutive terms in the upper chamber, including the past two years as president and terms as majority leader from 2010 to 2018 and 2020 to 2022. He also served in the New Hampshire House from 1991 to 2002 and in Congress from 2003 to 2006.
Gov. Chris Sununu hailed Bradley’s commitment to “find consensus, get the job done and deliver results.” Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy said Bradley was dedicated to “finding bipartisan solutions, especially on the most challenging issues.”
Bradley will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at BIA’s 111th Annual Dinner and Awards Celebration, presented by Eversource, Oct. 23 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Manchester. David Greer, CEO of Wire Belt Company of America, and Teresa Rosenberger, senior advisor with the Bernstein Shur law firm, will also receive Lifetime Achievement Awards, sponsored by Whelen Engineering Company. The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester will receive BIA’s New Hampshire Advantage Award, sponsored by Bank of America. (For a list of past winners, visit https://bit.ly/BIAhonorees.)
Jeb Bradley, the hiker, is not retiring despite a trail resume as impressive as his legislative one. Bradley, who will turn 72 this fall, is among the few who have climbed all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks in a single winter season, doing it three times. He was the 49th person to complete the White Mountain Grid, climbing each 4,000-footer in each month of the calendar year, totaling 576 peaks.
“At one point in Congress I decided I wanted to run a marathon,” he said. “I trained and did a half-marathon in 2006. My goal was to run the whole way and finish in less than 2.5 hours. I accomplished that, but as I finished, I said to myself, ‘Do you have another 13 miles, big guy?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding.’ So, I moved instead into winter hiking, and the rest is history.”
That history includes losses to Democrat Carol Shea-Porter in hard-fought congressional campaigns in 2006 and 2008. Bradley, by the way, said he and Shea-Porter are friendly now.
“I didn’t like losing. I’m not going to lie, but I tell people I don’t look back at it with regret,” he said. “Congress is hard. There’s never any rest. I did town halls in every town in the district every weekend I could. The fundraising is there. And you’re expected to toe the line.”
Ending pursuit of a return to Congress was a reset. “I had more time to do things I really like,” said the father of four children and grandfather to four. He spent more time hiking, but soon was on his way back to Concord through a Senate special election in 2009.
Upon returning home from a winter hike, he found a voicemail from former Gov. John H. Sununu: “You’re running for the New Hampshire Senate. I’ve talked to your mother and you’re running.”
Born in Rumford, Maine, and raised in Wolfeboro, he was destined to be an elected official. He graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor of arts in sociology, explaining he was interested in public affairs since high school. It wasn’t a straight path though. After graduating from Tufts, Bradley spent the better part of a year in Asia, including Nepal where he met his late wife, Barbara. The couple moved to Switzerland, living there for three years.
“I was a street performer of all things,” Bradley said. “I had a magic act I did on streets of Lucerne and Zurich.”
The couple moved to Wolfeboro in 1980 and ran a natural foods store. Bradley later started a paint contracting company and invested in real estate. His father and mother were also small business owners, opening a hardware store in Wolfeboro in 1954.
Jeb married Karen Bradley in 2018 and said she has been incredibly supportive. “Karen has been absolutely amazing. Being the spouse of an elected official is extraordinarily difficult. I could never have served in the Senate without her love, her hard work, her insight and her wise counsel.”
Public service began with Wolfeboro’s Planning Board in 1986, followed by the Budget Committee. He is most proud of leading the effort for Wolfeboro to purchase land for a public beach on Lake Wentworth. In 1990, he won a House election after a longtime representative passed away.
Serving in the Legislature and Congress gave Bradley a great perspective.
“In Washington, it was 435 members of Congress, and as a freshman you’re really expected to be seen but not heard, if you will,” he said. “Seniority plays a huge role in how congressional committees are formed and structured. It just takes forever to get to a point where you’re in a position to do a lot for your state.”
Bradley is proud of two key accomplishments in D.C. Foremost was being part of team of lawmakers that saved Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from closure. He also cites legislation expanding wilderness protection in the White Mountains’ Sandwich Range and creating new protections in the Wild River area near Gorham.
In the state Senate, Bradley cites Medicaid expansion as his most important legislation. The program, passed in 2014, provided health care coverage to about 60,000 people, lowering the number of people seeking care in emergency rooms, which is expensive and doesn’t really provide preventative care. This helped reduce costly uncompensated care for hospitals. It also helped people get back into the workforce. Bradley said promoting the economic and workforce benefits was critical.
“An awful lot of people across the political spectrum came together to make that happen,” he said. “BIA was very influential in that, and I’m deeply grateful for that.”
Bradley again played a leading role as the Legislature last year approved a seven-year reauthorization of the program, the first extension longer than two years.
Bradley said being an effective legislator begins with listening: “None of us have all the answers.”
As Bradley’s time in the Legislature winds down, he praises its volunteer nature.
“Don’t ever change the fact that the 424 legislators don’t get paid,” he said. “They run to serve their state and make good things happen. It honestly doesn’t matter if you’re conservative or progressive. I’m not saying those political differences don’t exist in New Hampshire, they do, but we work together.”
Bradley hasn’t committed to anything next other than helping his wife, Karen, complete her White Mountain Grid. And as Bradley says, his favorite hike is the next one.
For tickets to BIA’s Annual Dinner and to see a list of event sponsors, visit https://bit.ly/BIAAnnualDinner2024.
Rick Fabrizio is BIA’s director of communications and public policy.
