Kevin H. Smith (born on ) is an American politician who was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2022 United States Senate election in New Hampshire. Smith is a former state representative and previously served as the town manager of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Smith previously ran the conservative advocacy organization Cornerstone, and served on the staffs of United States Senator Bob Smith, and former New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson. Smith also served as the Deputy Director for New Hampshire’s Division for Juvenile Justice.
Professional career
State legislature
Smith served as a state representative from Londonderry, NH to the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1996–98, where he served on the Judiciary and Family Law Committee.
In 1997 he spoke for the members of the Committee opposed to SB 34, an act repealing statutes that required prison terms and fines for physicians who performed abortions and repealing a statute that mandated a charge of murder against physicians whose patients died in the course of an abortion procedure. He stated that passage of the bill and consequent repeal of those laws might cause New Hampshire to "become the abortion mecca of the country" and referred to it as an "extreme measure". The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law by then-governor Jeanne Shaheen, decriminalizing those activities for physicians.
In 1997 he authored HB 768, a bill banning partial birth abortion which was defeated in the House. In that year he also voted in favor of Right-to-work legislation. In 1998 he was awarded the Christian Coalition's "Pro-Family" House Member of the Year.
During his time of service in the legislature, Smith was the director of a before and after-school child care program and also worked as an elementary school para-professional, assisting students with special needs.
Political and governmental work
He served on the official staffs for both former United States Senator Bob Smith (no relation) and New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson. Smith had also served as the New Hampshire campaign field director for Senator Smith's unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1999.
During his time as a U.S. Senate staffer, Smith was the outreach liaison to New Hampshire's law enforcement and public safety community, as well as a caseworker where he assisted New Hampshire's citizens on a variety of matters such as veteran's affairs, social security, and immigration.
While serving on the Governor's staff, Smith was the Governor's liaison to the Executive Branch Department Heads as well as New Hampshire's Executive Council, where Smith assisted with appointments to Executive Branch Boards, Commissions, and Departments. Smith also served on the Interagency Commission to End Homelessness during his time in the Governor's Office although he has said that he considers it a tragedy when "government steps in the role of charitable organizations, of faith-based organizations, of community organizations that do such a great job of helping out people in the community. They've basically outsourced all of the roles that churches and charities used to do to the government and that's a real shame. We need to get back to looking at our community organizations as a first line of defense and not the government."
Division for Juvenile Justice Services
In 2005, Smith joined the New Hampshire Division of Juvenile Justice Services where he became Assistant Director of the Department in 2007. During his tenure, Kevin oversaw the Finance and Quality Assurance departments and helped develop the Division's first "report card" which measured the results and efficacy of various programs within the Division. Kevin was also a member of the New Hampshire Chiefs of Police and worked closely with law enforcement and District Court judges on matters such as developing alternatives to juvenile detention and reducing the incidence of disproportionate minority contact in urban areas. Kevin also worked closely with the Commissioner of Health and Human Services to develop the state's first Office of Faith-based and Community Programs as a means to find local, community and private-sector solutions to meet the needs of New Hampshire's most vulnerable citizens when state resources were not available.
Cornerstone
In 2009, Smith became Executive Director of Cornerstone Action, a non-partisan, conservative advocacy organization dedicated to the advancement of free-enterprise, limited government, and personal responsibility policies in the state legislature.