Cecil Abels
Overview
Owner, MrSippy BBQ, Barrington, NH (2014 - Present); General Manager, Lark Hotels (The Hotel Portsmouth) (2019); Consultant, Barrio Portsmouth (J2018); General Manager, Martingale Wharf (2016 - 2018); Realtor, Keller Williams Coastal (2011 - 2012)
BA English Teaching, University of NH
PO Box 1024
Rochester, NH 03867
United States
History
Position on Issues
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Do you support the “Education Freedom Account” program, which gives students access to the per-pupil share of state school funding to spend on private school or home school expenses?
"If a family's facing a real hardship and their kid needs a different setting, I want there to be help for them. What I can't support is the version we've got. An open-ended program with no income cap that pulls state money away from the public schools it's already underfunding, and hands it to families who could well afford private school on their own. Over 90% of the families using the vouchers after the income cap was removed already had their kids in private schools. If we're spending public dollars, I want public accountability: any school taking this money should have to report how kids are actually doing, and shouldn't get to turn away students with special needs. That's not too much to ask when it's our money on the line."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination law allow segregation based on biological sex in some settings, such as bathrooms and locker rooms?
"Every person in this state deserves to be treated with basic dignity, and I don't think we should be writing new laws to separate people out."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?
"This one's simple to me: decisions about a pregnancy belong to the pregnant person and their doctor. Not to me, and not to a politician in Concord."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?
"This one's simple to me: decisions about a pregnancy belong to the pregnant person and their doctor. Not to me, and not to a politician in Concord."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should NH add an income tax on earned income?
"No. We've handed away several revenue streams the last few years... the Interest & Dividends tax got repealed, and both business taxes, the BPT and the BET, got cut. I'd want to look hard at bringing some of those back if anything, because they hit a pretty small percentage of Granite Staters, before we ever talk about a broad-based income tax that touches everybody's paycheck. I'm also fairly certain we could do a better job spending what we already take in. I'd rather stop cutting taxes for the folks at the very top and let working people keep more of what they earn."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?
"For small businesses? Absolutely. I run one, I know how thin those margins get. For the big corporations, though, I'd ask a simple question: do they actually need the break? These are companies pulling real profit out of New Hampshire, and I think they can afford to pay their fair share to do business here. These large companies profit off our infrastructure and our workforce, and they're reaping the most benefit from the business tax cuts. I'd rather aim relief at the small shops and startups that hold our downtowns together than hand it to the folks who need it least."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?
"We've got a huge housing crisis,here in NH and across the country, and folks are getting priced out of the towns they grew up in. I want to protect what makes our rural areas rural... but there's room in our downtowns to add housing and density where people can walk to what they need. So yes, I'd support the state encouraging towns to take a hard look at the barriers keeping housing from getting built where it makes sense."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire do more to encourage the development of nuclear power, including small modular reactors (SMR), in the state?
"I'm open to it, with my eyes open. If the science can truly show it's safe, I don't want to take a clean, reliable power source off the table, and I'd keep the newer small-reactor technology in the conversation. But 'open' comes with conditions: environmental review, a real plan for the waste, and rigorous safeguards that don't just get waved through. If we get those right, nuclear can be part of how we solve our energy crunch."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Do you support legislation to expand the net energy metering system capacity cap from 1 MW to 5 MW for all residential and commercial customers in New Hampshire?
"Yes, I'd support raising that cap. Net metering just means when you generate your own power, say rooftop solar, and make more than you use, you send the extra back to the grid and get credited for it. Right now the size of system that qualifies is capped pretty low, which shuts out a lot of businesses, farms, and town buildings that could be producing clean power and trimming their bills. If a family or a business can make more energy than they need and put it back into the system for everybody's benefit... what's the harm in letting them?"For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire restore funding for the Office of the Child Advocate?
"An independent office whose whole job is looking out for kids and catching abuse before it becomes a tragedy is exactly what state government should fund. We've seen what happens when no one's watching closely enough, the abuse scandal at the state's youth detention center is a hard, expensive lesson in why this office matters. Our kids are worth it."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?
"This one's simple to me: decisions about a pregnancy belong to the pregnant person and their doctor. Not to me, and not to a politician in Concord."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire reinstate the interest and dividends tax?
"I'd look at it, but a smarter version of it. Here's the thing folks don't always realize: the I&D tax barely touched working people. The overwhelming majority of it was paid by the wealthiest earners in the state; the top 20 percent covered around 90 percent of it. It wasn't a tax on your wages; it was a tax on large investment income. So repealing it mostly helped folks who were already doing just fine. If we brought it back, I'd want it built to protect retirees living off their savings and 401(k)s, raise the income threshold so it only reaches the top earners it was always meant for. What I keep coming back to is... who exactly were we helping when we gave that one away?"Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Do you support New Hampshire’s current system of public school funding, with about two-thirds of total funding coming from local property taxes?
"No. Here's what bothers me: New Hampshire covers a smaller share of its own school costs than any state in the country, right around 29 percent. The rest gets pushed down onto us... homeowners, landlords, renters, every town in the district. And our own Supreme Court has said the state isn't meeting its constitutional duty to fund an adequate education. It's been paying somewhere around $4,800 a pupil when the court found the real floor is north of $7,300. That difference has to be made up, and it lands on our property tax bills. And the voucher program makes it worse. Every dollar the state sends out through Education Freedom Accounts is a dollar it's not putting toward the public schools it already owes, the ones that take every kid who walks through the door."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?
"Yes it's time. I think we're leaving money and common sense on the table by dragging our feet. We don't have to reinvent the wheel; every state that borders us has already worked out a model, so let's learn from what's worked and what hasn't. If the right fit turns out to be running it through our state liquor store system, I'm open to that. From where I sit, I watch a steady stream of cars heading over the border into Maine to buy legally; that's New Hampshire revenue and New Hampshire jobs driving right past us. I'd want to hear from folks across the district on the details, but the basic direction? I'm there."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?
"Yes it's time. I think we're leaving money and common sense on the table by dragging our feet. We don't have to reinvent the wheel; every state that borders us has already worked out a model, so let's learn from what's worked and what hasn't. If the right fit turns out to be running it through our state liquor store system, I'm open to that. From where I sit, I watch a steady stream of cars heading over the border into Maine to buy legally; that's New Hampshire revenue and New Hampshire jobs driving right past us. I'd want to hear from folks across the district on the details, but the basic direction? I'm there."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?
"Yes it's time. I think we're leaving money and common sense on the table by dragging our feet. We don't have to reinvent the wheel; every state that borders us has already worked out a model, so let's learn from what's worked and what hasn't. If the right fit turns out to be running it through our state liquor store system, I'm open to that. From where I sit, I watch a steady stream of cars heading over the border into Maine to buy legally; that's New Hampshire revenue and New Hampshire jobs driving right past us. I'd want to hear from folks across the district on the details, but the basic direction? I'm there."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire require new voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering to vote?
"Let's start with the facts: voter fraud is vanishingly rare in New Hampshire… it's just not the problem some folks make it out to be. What a law like this does do is put a real barrier in front of eligible citizens who don't happen to have a passport or birth certificate in a drawer... older folks, working people who've moved, young voters. I'm not interested in solving a problem we don't have by making it harder for legitimate people to vote."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire allow at least 10% of students in each school district to enroll in a different public school, regardless of where they live?
"I'm open to it, but I'd rather fix the reason families feel they need to leave in the first place. My goal is for every town's public schools to be strong enough that no parent feels like they're at a disadvantage staying put. That means paying teachers and special educators enough to attract great people to every district, not just the wealthy ones. Where open enrollment makes real sense to me is sharing resources between districts… vocational-tech programs, sports, specialty areas where it's just too expensive for a small town to run its own. Let's cooperate where it saves money and gives our kids more."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?
"This one's simple to me: decisions about a pregnancy belong to the pregnant person and their doctor. Not to me, and not to a politician in Concord."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should state law cap how much local school districts can increase their budget each year?
"No. The folks who know what a school needs are the ones running it and the neighbors voting on it at town meeting, not Concord. Keep that decision local, where it belongs."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?
"I grew up here, and I respect that owning a firearm, for hunting, for sport, for protecting your family… is part of life in New Hampshire, and that's a right I want to protect. Where I think there's common ground is keeping guns out of the hands of people who've shown they're a danger to themselves or others. I'm not interested in coming after law-abiding owners... I'm interested in the narrow, common-sense steps most gun owners I know already support. That's the conversation I'd have."
