New Hampshire Senate leader charged with domestic violence

The top Democrat in New Hampshire’s state Senate was arrested Thursday on charges related to domestic violence.

State Sen. Jeff Woodburn (D), the Senate’s minority leader, faces four charges of simple assault, two charges for domestic violence and charges for criminal mischief and criminal trespass. 

New Hampshire’s attorney general’s office said the charges come from incidents between August 2017 and June 2018. Woodburn, who is running for reelection this November, will be arraigned later this month.

{mosads}

Both Democratic and Republican party leaders called on Woodburn to quit his office.

“We take these accusations against Sen. Jeff Woodburn very seriously and stand with his accuser and support her during this unimaginably painful time,” state Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said in a statement issued just before the charges were announced. “We are asking Sen. Woodburn to resign from office immediately.”

In his own statement, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said domestic violence would not be tolerated.

“This morally reprehensible, violent behavior has no place in public service, or anywhere else,” Sununu said on Twitter. He called on Woodburn to resign “immediately.”

Woodburn represents a northern New Hampshire district that gave President Trump a narrow four-point margin in the 2016 presidential contest. New Hampshire’s state Senate is among a handful of legislative chambers that Democrats hope to flip in the midterm elections; Republicans won 14 of 24 seats in the 2016 election.