Thirty-Three New Hampshire Candidates Earn ‘2026 Seal of Approval on Child Care’ from Nation’s Leading Moms Group
CONTACT: Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996
Program Helps Voters Identify 2026 Candidates Who Will Prioritize Solutions to Our Child Care Crisis In Office
Our country’s child care crisis is causing profound financial instability and lasting harm to tens of millions of families, small businesses, and our economy, and contributing mightily to the affordability crisis that is roiling the country. That’s why moms have come together to create the 2026 Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care, to identify candidates who will stand with families by advancing comprehensive child care policy solutions that address affordability, accessibility, and quality for all. MomsRising Together, the online and on-the-ground organization of 3.7 million total members, released the first batch of candidates to earn the Seal this year and it includes 33 New Hampshire candidates:
- Chris Pappas, running for U.S. Senate from New Hampshire
- Cinde Warmington, running for Governor of New Hampshire
- Jim O’Connell, running for New Hampshire Executive Council in District 4
- Karen Liot Hill, running for New Hampshire Executive Council in District 2
- Lisa Kennedy Sheldon, running for New Hampshire Executive Council in District 3
- Luz Bay, running for New Hampshire Executive Council in District 1
- Melanie Levesque, running for New Hampshire Executive Council in District 5
In addition, 11 candidates for the New Hampshire State Senate and 15 candidates for the New Hampshire State House earned the 2026 Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care. They are listed here.
“We applaud every candidate who has earned the 2026 Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care,” said MomsRising Together Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “We urgently need elected officials at all levels with a deep commitment to finding solutions to our child care crisis. That is especially important now, as the Trump administration threatens to redirect funds that Congress designated for the cash-starved Child Care and Development Fund to married, stay-at-home parents. Pitting moms in the labor force against stay-at-home moms is a disgraceful attempt at distraction, and moms will not be fooled. Moms will vote for champions who will advance real solutions for all moms, whether they are working full-time or are stay-at-home parents. Studies show that access to child care boosts families, businesses, and our economy as a whole, and we celebrate every candidate who is pushing for much-needed child care solutions.”
While fixing the child care crisis will bring high returns for families and businesses alike, leaving it broken incurs high costs: Child care remains one of the largest expenses many New Hampshire families face, particularly for households with multiple young children. The average annual price of center-based care in 2025 was approximately $16,462 for an infant and $15,262 for a toddler. For a married couple with two children under age 5 earning the median family income in the state, these costs would consume about one-quarter of annual household income; for a single mother earning the median income for unmarried mothers in the state, they would amount to approximately 61% of annual income.
Nationally, child care costs more than public college tuition in many states, and nearly half of Americans live in child care deserts, where there is a significant shortage of providers. As a result, millions of moms and caregivers have been forced out of the workforce and families are struggling without their paychecks, while businesses and our economy suffer. At the same time, early educators are severely underpaid, and many are leaving the field because of dismally low wages.
MomsRising Together created the mom-made, mom-approved Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care in 2024 to raise the profile of child care as a campaign issue and to challenge candidates to commit to child care solutions that meet the needs and standards of America’s moms. It was developed with MomsRising parent leaders to raise the profile of the issue in the election and to tell candidates what a gold-star child care plan looks like.
The full 2026 list of Seal recipients, which is still growing, includes more than 156 candidates across the nation. All candidates are eligible to receive the Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care. Any candidate running this year can earn the Seal by committing to being a child care champion as laid out in the Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care commitment guidelines. Candidates interested in being considered should fill out the Seal questionnaire.
# # # #
MomsRising is the on-the-ground and online grassroots movement of moms and people who love them with 1,148,000 active members, a cumulative membership of 3,731,024, and a combined social media and Breaking Through Radio audience of tens of millions more. Working to build a nation where everyone can thrive, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org and follow us on X, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, our blog, and other social media platforms.