Sonia Prince is well known in New Hampshire Democratic circles. The Nashua Democrat was a diehard advocate for Hillary Clinton, she worked to get write-in votes for Joe Biden, and now she’s backing former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in the gubernatorial primary.
Prince has often helped candidates with their social media posts, and she knows her way around the internet. So when she posted attacks on Craig’s opponent Cinde Warmington featuring antisemitic images, it was no accident.
“Yikes! NH’s candidate for governor, Cinde Warmington, was a lobbyist for the evil opioid Sackler family!!” Prince posted, retweeting an image featuring a Star of David and the Sackler family name. (The Sacklers are children of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.)
In another post, Prince writes: “Candidate for NH Gov, Cinde Warmington, is a former lobbyist for the Perdue opioid company and praised the evil Sackler’s family addictive and deadly products.”
Again, she retweeted a Star of David and the Sackler family.
Prince isn’t shy about touting her support for Craig. “NH voters, please vote for Joyce Craig for governor!” Prince posted.
The Craig campaign did not respond when NHJournal asked about these posts late Monday.
Warmington has faced criticism over her work as a lobbyist for Perdue Pharma in 2002 on behalf of the addictive painkiller Oxycontin. She defended the drug during testimony before the New Hampshire House, calling it a “miracle drug” with “very few side effects.”
The Sackler family owned Perdue Pharma.
A $6 billion payout by the family to settle opioid-related claims was recently blocked by a 5-4 vote of the U.S. Supreme Court. They ruled that the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to release the Sackler family members from legal claims made by opioid victims.
As part of the original settlement, the family, which controlled the company, had agreed to pay $6 billion that could be used to settle opioid-related claims, but only in return for a complete release from any liability in future cases.
When members of the addiction recovery community in June called for Warmington to drop out of the primary, her campaign responded with a statement.
“Cinde’s own father struggled with substance use disorder, which is why she has spent decades advocating for expanded access to treatment for families facing addiction. This effort to smear Cinde Warmington with a 22-year-old attack organized by Joyce Craig’s allies disgracefully exploits the pain of New Hampshire families struggling with substance use disorder and shamelessly parrots Kelly Ayotte’s attacks for Craig’s own political gain,” said Miles Cunning, Warmington campaign communications director.
While the images may seem shocking when posted by a veteran Democratic campaign activist, antisemitism is nothing new from some members of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
When Republicans proposed a House resolution in 2022 supporting the state of Israel, House Democrats overwhelmingly opposed it. Several members took to the floor to denounce Israel as an “apartheid state.”
And many Democrats have defended the anti-Israel — and sometimes antisemitic — protests on New Hampshire college campuses featuring the chant “U.S., Israel, Go to hell!”
State Rep. Maria Perez of Milford was forced to apologize for posting the antisemitic chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” on her social media. She later switched from Democrat to Independent.
UPDATE: After NHJournal’s reporting, Prince posted on her social media feed that she was unaware that the site she was linking (with the huge Star of David graphics) had antisemitic content and she took down her posts.
