New Hampshire businesswoman Hollie Noveletsky says her decision to enter the GOP primary in the First Congressional District came down to a simple calculation.
“If everything was running smoothly, well, I’d stay here and live my life very comfortably. But we’re in a crisis, and that’s when you really need to step forward.”
Noveletsky, along with former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott and businessman Chris Bright, is running for the chance to challenge incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas. The owner of Novel Iron Works, Noveletsky says her mix of business experience in manufacturing, work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and service in the Army Nurse Corps Reserves and New Hampshire National Guard make her the right Republican for the job.
“I got tired of being angry about what’s happening to our country, what’s happening in D.C.,” Noveletsky said during a NHJournal podcast interview. “We have completely destabilized the world with our weak leadership. And I decided that either I have to stop complaining about everything that’s going on and accept it or step up and fight.”
One of Noveletsky’s key issues is her opposition to the PRO Act, which would expand the power of labor unions. It’s a battle she’s been fighting for years. Labor issues drove her father’s iron company from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, and she fears the federal PRO Act — backed by President Joe Biden — would take the problem nationwide.
“My company, Novel Iron Works, was started by my dad in 1956 in Massachusetts. As a child, I remember my father every year saying the unions were shutting him down. He’d be out in the middle of the night driving a truck to keep the business open. Finally, he told them, ‘You shut me down one more time, and I’m moving to New Hampshire.’ And they shut him down.
“And we moved up here [Greenland] in 1975. And he continued to bus up [from Massachusetts] all his employees who wanted to continue to work until they retired,” Noveletsky said.
On foreign policy, Noveletsky said she supports giving aid to Israel, and she says Biden’s weakness has provoked America’s enemies to act.
“How many times have our bases [in the Middle East] been attacked now by Iran? And we haven’t really responded. It shows the world that we’re weak and we haven’t really been there for our allies. And that has allowed the bullies in the world to step up and destabilize the world,” Noveletsky said.
The GOP NH-01 primary is traditionally a hotly-contested campaign, and many GOP insiders expect more candidates will enter the race. Two years ago, Prescott was one of five major candidates in the race. (He finished fourth.)
Noveletsky says she believes Pappas has put the Democratic Party’s interests ahead of the district. “For example, voting for the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Noveletsky says her “number one issue is the economy. The economy, energy prices, food prices, housing — all these issues are really significantly impacting quality of life and people’s ability to feel even secure in their own home.”
