Jeb Bradley

Joseph Edmund "Jeb" Bradley III (born October 20, 1952) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who serves in the New Hampshire Senate.

He represents his hometown of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and 16 other towns in east-central New Hampshire for District 3.

Bradley was born in Rumford, Maine, to Helen Jockers Bradley and Joseph Edmund Bradley, Jr. After graduating from Governor Dummer Academy, he attended Tufts University, graduating in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in sociology.

Bradley lived in Switzerland and worked as a street magician, returning in 1981 to New Hampshire, where he later opened an organic grocery called Evergrain Natural Foods.

Bradley was elected to the Wolfeboro Planning Board in 1986; three years later, he was named to the Budget Committee.

He was a registered Democrat until 1989, when he switched to the Republican party.

He was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000, and then served as the U.S. representative for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district from 2003 to 2007.

Bradley won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in November 1990 and was re-elected five times.

In the legislature, he sponsored the Clean Power Act, which set limits on power plant emissions.

He was chairman of the Science, Technology and Energy Committee, as well as the Joint Committee on Ethics.

He and his wife sold the natural foods store in 1997.

He also ran a painting business, and managed real estate.

Bradley was first elected to Congress in 2002, winning the Republican nomination in a field of eight candidates,

for the seat left vacant when Republican incumbent John E. Sununu ran for the Senate.

He defeated Democrat Martha Fuller Clark in the general election, winning with 58 percent of the vote.

Members of the media, colleagues and opponents described Bradley as a moderate in the Republican Party when he was elected in 2002.

He sided with his party by supporting the war in Iraq, the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, the prohibition of federal funding of overseas abortion, the $5 billion subsidy for the Chinese nuclear program.

However, he opposed President Bush's energy bill and supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug subsidy.

He has cosponsored bills to loosen regulations on embryonic stem cell research.

Bradley served on the Armed Services, Budget, Veterans' Affairs and Small Business committees.

Bradley has belonged to Christine Todd Whitman's It's My Party Too!, The Republican Main Street Partnership, The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice and Republicans for Environmental Protection.

In 2004, Bradley defeated political newcomer Justin Nadeau of Portsmouth to win a second term, receiving 63% of the vote.

Bradley outspent Nadeau 3 to 1.

Bradley's chief of staff, Debra J. Vanderbeek, ran his 2004 campaign.

Tom Anfinson, the financial administrator in Bradley's government office, said that Vanderbeek was paid 100 percent of her salary until the end of May 2004, 80 percent between June and September, and 50 percent between October and early November.

Bradley's re-election committee paid her $13,561 in salary for the campaign, which she failed to report as outside income to the Clerk of the House, plus $3,317 in reimbursements for un-itemized campaign expenses.

Bradley sought a third term in 2006.

He defeated Michael Callis in the Republican primary on September 12, 2006, winning 87% of the vote.

Bradley faced Democrat Carol Shea-Porter and Libertarian party candidate Dan Belforti in the November 2006 general election.

In what was considered an upset, Bradley lost his bid for re-election to Shea-Porter.

Bradley and Shea-Porter met October 24 for a debate sponsored by WMUR-TV and the New Hampshire Union Leader, and debated again on October 31.

Bradley voted in favor of the 2006 "Same Sex Marriage Resolution", which would have amended the Constitution, requiring that marriage "shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman."

Bradley opposed an increase in the national minimum wage during his time in Congress.

Bradley, who has visited Iraq three times, has been a supporter of the Iraq War.

In January 2006 he said "It is not possible to predict exactly when stability in Iraq will occur, but the progress is significant."

In June 2006 he said that he did not support a specific timetable for withdrawing American troops from the country, but that he saw signs of progress that the United States would be able to leave "sooner rather than later".

In January 2007, Bradley announced his intention to reclaim his former seat.

He said he'd made up his mind a few days after his loss.

He lost the general election to incumbent Carol Shea-Porter, 52%–46%.

He was Majority Leader of the New Hampshire Senate from 2010 to 2018 and again from 2020 to 2022.