1st Congressional District Candidate Howard: Israel Has No Right To Exist, There Should Be No Jewish State

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

When NH-01 Democratic candidate Rep. Heath Howard says “Free Palestine,” he means free of a Jewish state. And he is not shy about saying so.

In an interview on WMUR’s “Close-Up,” Howard staked out the most radical position on Middle East policy in the 2026 Democratic primary field. He argued there should not be a Jewish state at all and declined to condemn Hamas.

“While there are a number of condemnable actions that they’ve taken, like any sort of government, I don’t think that Hamas has a right to exist. I don’t think Israel has a right to exist. I think that people have a right to exist,” he said.

The nation of Israel was recognized by the United Nations in 1949. Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the European Union in 2001.

In perhaps his most puzzling comments, Howard said that when it comes to Hamas, “we need to respect the will of the Palestinian people, and we need to make sure that they have access to democracy. We need to make sure that we allow the people to have self-determination.”

Hamas hasn’t held an election in Gaza since 2006, and has made no secret of its public executions of political dissenters. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented hundreds of cases where Hamas used torture—including beatings, solitary confinement, and stress positions—to silence critics, journalists, and peaceful protesters.

Howard, who has falsely labeled Israel’s military operations in Gaza as a “genocide,” has also aggressively attacked candidates who accept campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a longtime supporter of liberal Democratic candidates.

His comments mark a sharp departure from the rest of the Democratic field. While opponents like Stefany Shaheen and incumbent Chris Pappas have expressed concerns over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, they have maintained support for Israel’s sovereignty and its status as a Jewish state.

Howard is running as an outspoken progressive in the New Hampshire House. The House Progressive Caucus recently removed him as its vice chair and endorsed one of his opponents, Christian Urrutia, in the NH-01 Democratic primary.

While there has been little public polling in the primary, a UNH Survey Center panel put Howard in second place at 10 percent, behind Stefany Shaheen at 33 percent and narrowly ahead of Maura Sullivan at 8 percent.

DEVELOPING….

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.