Steve Marchand is an American politician. He served as the mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from 2006 to 2008. He is the principal of SRM Consulting, a public affairs and strategic communications firm. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Corporate Relations for the University of New Hampshire. Marchand was an early Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate for the 2008 election, but he dropped out of the race in 2007 and endorsed former Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Marchand was also a Democratic primary candidate for Governor of New Hampshire in 2016 but was defeated by Colin Van Ostern. On April 3, 2017, Marchand formally announced his 2018 candidacy for governor but later lost the Democratic primary in a landslide.
Family and youth
Steve Marchand was born and raised on the west side of Manchester, New Hampshire. A first-generation American, Steve's parents came to New Hampshire from Quebec, Canada. His father, Normand, was a carpenter, and his mother Suzanne was a mill worker. He has a sister named Joanne. Steve attended Manchester and Goffstown public schools and was the first member of his family to attend college.
Education and early career
Marchand received a B.S in International Relations and a B.A. in Public Affairs from Syracuse University in 1996. He went on to receive a Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in 1998. Following college, Marchand began his professional career at Andersen Consulting, working with public and private sector clients to implement database management systems. He later joined Maximus, a government managementconsulting firm, in its state and local government division. In 2000, Marchand was named as Regional Director of the Concord Coalition. He coordinated operations in New England and New York state. Marchand went on to found Pembroke Strategies, an international public policy consulting firm. He worked with major national organizations, such as the AARP and SEIU. Marchand's political consulting includes acting as campaign director for former Executive Councilor Jim Normand's 2002 New Hampshire gubernatorial primary campaign. Marchand also served as deputy campaign manager, overseeing policy and communications, for State Sen. Mark Fernald's 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Marchand acted as campaign director for 2004 1st Congressional District nominee Justin Nadeau. Following the 2002 campaign season, Marchand was named New Hampshire's political "Rising Star" of the year by the influential political web site , as well as one of the 105 people with the greatest influence on the 2004 New Hampshire Presidential Primary. In March 2008, Marchand started his own political consulting firm, The Marchand Group.
Public service
First elected in 2003 to the Portsmouth City Council, Marchand served on the City Council from 2004–2005 and was re-elected in 2005. He received the highest numbers of votes in the 2005 election, making him Mayor of Portsmouth. He was sworn into office as Mayor on January 9, 2006. Since then, he has been a leader on increasing accountability in government and restraining tax increases. He reformed the city's budget process into an "outcome-based" model, emphasizing transparency, public input, and results-based policy-making to deliver the city's goals quickly and efficiently. Under Mayor Marchand, the city of Portsmouth became a national leader in 21st century green energy policy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving energy, and saving taxpayers money. With Save Our Shipyard, Marchand fought to save the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005. Marchand was the co-chair of City Year's 2007 national convention. On November 16, 2010, Marchand held a No Labels gathering of over 100 people at his home.
Political campaigns
On January 12, 2007, Marchand announced his intention to seek the U.S. Senate seat then held by Republican John E. Sununu. After former governor Jeanne Shaheen entered the race in September, however, Marchand withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Shaheen, who went on to defeat Sununu in the general election. During the 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary, Marchand endorsed Democratic presidential candidate, Governor Bill Richardson. In the 2016 election cycle, Marchand was a late entrant in the Democratic primary race for New Hampshire Governor. In a field of five candidates, he placed second with 25.3% of the vote. On September 11, 2018, he lost the Democratic primary to former state senatorMolly Kelly. On April 16, 2019, Marchand joined Andrew Yang's presidential campaign as senior adviser.
