Steven Smith is a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Charlestown, where he represents Sullivan County District 3 (Charlestown, Newport and Unity), and is the House's Deputy Speaker. He is in his eighth term in the House and previously chaired its Transportation Committee for four years.
Role at the time: Deputy Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives (Republican, Charlestown), speaking in a joint statement with House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson
Condemned
Statement summary
New Hampshire House Deputy Speaker Steven Smith, a Republican, said in a joint statement with House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson that the Libertarian Party's posts calling for the assassination of Democrats were completely unhinged and unacceptable, and that political violence has no place in New Hampshire regardless of party.
“The Libertarian Party’s posts calling for the assassination of Democrats are completely unhinged and unacceptable. No matter your party, political violence has zero place in New Hampshire, period. We need to drop this garbage, get back to regular debating, and settle our differences the right way”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Social Media Post Backing Assassination of NH's Elected Democrats Met With CondemnationParagraphs reporting the statement of Granite State Libertarian Party Chair Rachel Danner, and the joint statement by Deputy Speaker Steven Smith and House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson, near the end of the article
Why we used this label
The case asks whether the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire's post about assassinating elected Democrats was a threat of political violence. Smith called the party's posts unhinged and unacceptable and said political violence has zero place in New Hampshire whatever a person's party. That is an express rejection of the post, so we labeled it Condemned.
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire's X account said it backs assassinating elected Democrats and that anyone unwilling should vote Republican instead. Officials from both parties condemned the post; the party called its statements legal, and its chair described them as self-defense.
