MANCHESTER – A businessman and state legislator is now New Hampshire campaign co-chairman for Republican presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump.

State Rep. Stephen Stepanek, R-Amherst, said he is embracing the role for what Trump represents in the 2016 race.

He described Trump as Reagan-esque, in terms of taking on challenges and finding the right people to help get the job done.

“He’s going to resonate with a lot of people – people who haven’t participated in the election process in the past,” Stepanek tells the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Stepanek, who was co-chairman for Rudy Giuliani in 2008, said he hopes to have Trump in New Hampshire as often as possible.

“That’s what it takes to win,” he said.

Trump visited New Hampshire last week, a day after he announced his campaign in New York City. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, officially opened the Trump campaign office in Manchester on Wednesday.

The candidate returns June 30 for a reception at 30 Church Road in Bedford (overflow parking and shuttle at Bedford Presbyterian Church at 4 Church Road, according to the campaign).

Stepanek said Trump is off to a great start. He pointed to recent polls that show Trump near the front of the pack for Republican candidates.

Stepanek is now in his fifth term in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He is a former Deputy Majority Leader and former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He has also served on numerous local boards, including Amherst selectman and co-chairman of the Amherst budget committee.


Stepanek is a past chairman of the Granite State Taxpayers Association.
He began his business career in 1978, when he was 26, co-founding Hampshire Paper Corp. in Nashua, and later in Milford. He has several start-up businesses and is involved in commercial real estate.


The Trump campaign office in Manchester is in a building owned by Stepanek. Trump, earlier this year, spoke to local Republicans and activists at Stepanek’s house.


Of all the Republican candidates in the race, Stepanek said Trump stood apart for a no-nonsense approach.

“It’s not business as usual,” he said of Trump, and sounding a bit like Trump. “Like a lot of other people, I’m getting tired of politicians promising to fix that and do that, and at the end of the day they do the same thing as people before them. They continue to grow government. They continue to take away states’ rights. They continue to take away citizens’ rights.”


The buzz around Trump’s new candidacy is partly from average voters who have tuned politics out for years, according to Stepanek.


“They like the refreshing view point that Trump has,” he said. “They like that he’s not beholden to any special interest group.”

dtuohy@unionleader.com