Roots in the past…eyes on the future

Lily Foss is a fourth-generation Manchester native whose family has called the Queen City home since 1905. Growing up in Ward 7, she was fortunate enough to meet people from many backgrounds during her time as a public school student at Hallsville Elementary School, McLaughlin Middle School, and Memorial High School. After graduating from Scripps College in Claremont, California with a degree in Politics & International Relations, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working on fighting childhood hunger in the Granite State.

After moving to Philadelphia from 2015-2018 to attend Temple University School of Law, Lily discovered that the call of her home state was too powerful to ignore and moved back to New Hampshire to stay. She realized that her true passion is for improving the lives of Granite Staters through progressive policy and action.

While Lily may come from a family with strong Manchester ties, she sees that the Manchester where she, her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother grew up no longer exists. With skyrocketing housing prices, constant attacks on bodily freedoms, and healthcare that is unaffordable and inaccessible to so many, today’s Granite Staters live in harrowing times. A changing world calls for a change in viewpoint, and Lily is excited to talk to voters about how they can build Manchester’s future together.

On the issues:

  • As her day job, Lily works in fair housing advocacy. She sees the effects of unaffordable and discriminatory housing every day. Lily believes that the way to fix the housing crisis is with new ideas, including changes in zoning policy and incentives to developers who turn old buildings into affordable units. Lily has experienced the burden of high rents herself and knows that the only way to ensure the prosperity of the Granite State is to make sure it’s an affordable home to all people, not just a wealthy few.

  • Lily knows the burden that high healthcare costs can put on an individual and their family. No one should have to go into debt just to afford to live and Lily will make ensuring the health and safety of Granite Staters a priority.

  • No one is truly free without the right to control their own body. Lily comes from a legacy of strongly pro-choice women and believes that abortion, contraception, and IVF are all forms of healthcare that should be protected by law. Regardless of one’s personal morals, data and history show that when abortion is illegal or inaccessible, people die. Lily will fight to make sure that New Hampshire does not become a state where that happens.

  • As a member of the LGBTQ community, Lily believes that it is her duty to stand up for the rights of every Queer person, especially children, who are so vulnerable to adults who seek to use their lives as a political talking point. Gender-affirming care for minors saves lives—data and the lived experience of trans people prove that. Lily will be a voice for the equality of all Granite Staters.

  • Lily is a proud graduate of the Manchester public school system and credits several of her teachers there for her continued interest in politics. A guaranteed education is one of America’s greatest promises, but voucher systems that take money away from public schools so that children from wealthy families can receive a taxpayer-funded religious education threaten that promise. Lily will oppose any policy that could threaten our public schools and will be a champion for public education in the State House.