'Third Way' Democrat prepares to challenge Ayotte
A test prep entrepreneur who recently moved to New Hampshire from New York City is preparing to challenge Kelly Ayotte in her re-election bid for the U.S. Senate.
Yesterday James Pindell uncovered two job ads placed by an unnamed “New England Democratic US Senate Candidate, who will formally launch a campaign early in 2016 to unseat a Republican incumbent.” (Ayotte is the only incumbent Republican senator in New England up for re-election in 2016.)
Today, Pindell reported Stratus Prep CEO Shawn O'Connor “has been quietly meeting with Democratic politicians and operatives” in advance of a senatorial campaign and noted O'Connor matches the candidate profile in the ads.
This would be O'Connor’s first run for public office but he telegraphed a potential campaign theme in an article for Forbes in which he criticized Republicans and Democrats for their 2013 budget proposals.
“The leaders of both major parties, seeking political advantage, have presented voters with a dangerous false choice that has paralyzed our nation,” he wrote.
“House Republicans want to cut income taxes on the wealthiest Americans from 39.6% to 25% and turn Medicare into a voucher program which could leave some senior citizens without critical medical coverage,” he continued.
“At the same time,” O'Connor wrote, “Senate Democrats want to increase federal taxes by another $1 trillion dollars (when many in New York City, for example, already pay 54% of their income in federal, state and local taxes) adhering to an orthodoxy that more federal spending will automatically drive growth and job creation.”
O'Connor proposed a “Third Way” alternative. “America needs to return to its entrepreneurial roots so that we can grow our way out of this crisis. A rebirth of American small businesses will slash the unemployment rate while substantially increasing tax revenues without raising rates.”
An avid skier who has skied every Olympic downhill in the U.S., O'Connor earned degrees from Georgetown University, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School before stints with McKinsey & Company, Mercer Management Consulting and Lehman Brothers.
In 2006 O'Connor founded Stratus Prep, which provides test preparation and admissions counseling services. Last year he moved to Bedford where he lives with his partner Joshua and his pug Bailey.