Jeff Woodburn

Jeffrey R. Woodburn (born June 1965) from Dalton, New Hampshire is a former Democratic member of the New Hampshire Senate for the 1st district, elected in 2012.

He was the minority leader of the Senate Democratic caucus.

Woodburn served on the Public and Municipal Affairs Committee and the Election Law and Internal Affairs Committee.

He previously ran for the State House in 1986, but lost to Harold Burns.

Woodburn graduated in 1987 from Franklin Pierce College, and won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives after graduation.

He served one term (1989 to 1991).

He served as Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party (1997 to 1999), and as the executive director for U.S. Representative Richard Swett.

Woodburn has also worked as a social studies teacher, freelance writer, real estate businessman, and town moderator.

He previously ran for the Executive Council of New Hampshire in 2000, losing to Peter J. Spaulding.

He ran for Coos County Commission in 2004, but lost to Thomas M. Brady.

Woodburn was arrested on August 2, 2018, on simple assault, domestic violence, criminal mischief, and criminal trespass charges.

Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley called on him to resign.

On August 6, Woodburn announced he would resign as the minority leader but would remain as a senator.

He won the Democratic primary on September 11, 2018, but was defeated by Republican David Starr in the 2018 general election.

In May 2021, a jury convicted Woodburn of one count of domestic violence, one count of simple assault, and two counts of criminal mischief, but acquitted him of three counts of simple assault, one count of domestic violence, and one count of criminal trespass.

He received a sixty-day jail term.

However, in March 2023 the New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned Woodburn's assault and domestic violence convictions, and ordered a new trial on the grounds that the trial judge had improperly refused to allow him to raise self-defence.