MEET PAUL WAGNER

Candidate for Congress – District 2

I was raised the middle child of three boys in the small mountainous town of Coarsegold, California just south of Yosemite National Park. Throughout my childhood, my mother who is a New Hampshire native, born and raised in Manchester use to tell me and my brothers stories of New Hampshire; about the old man of the mountain, clam bakes on the beach and the changing weather of the seasons. Christmas brought about stores of winter, snow and family gathering around the fireplace. New Hampshire was always a place I longed to be. Living there however, would not be an option prior to entering my adulthood.

In 2003 I graduated from high school at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter my mother took a job with the traveling nurses and returned to New Hampshire, where she was able to help care for my grandfather who at that time was suffering with late-stage dementia and Alzheimers. I remained in California. I spent the following years living independently and making my best attempt at putting myself through college. With no financial aid, I began working a minimum wage job and taking out loans when needed to make-up the difference. Needless to say, things did not go as planed. In 2008 I found myself taking a five year hiatus from education and seized the opportunity to relocate to New Hampshire for the very first time. It was then and there that I began to discover my heritage. I fell in love all over again and it was ultimately in New Hampshire that I found myself pursuing higher education once again. First at Great Bay Community College in Newington, then at NHTI in Concord. When it came time to pursue a state-level degree however, New Hampshire tuition was a bit outside of my budget. Hesitantly, I moved back to California, and in the spring of 2017 received my Bachelors of Arts in German with a minor in Biology from the California State University, Sacramento.

Now, I know what you're thinking. That's an odd combination. To which I say, “Sometimes life doesn't go as planned. In fact, I have never in my life made a plan that worked out exactly the way I imagined it to. Life is sometimes about rolling with the punches and making the best of a bad situation.” I may never use my degree in an official career setting, and thats okay. Achieving that level of a degree was a goal I had set for myself in high school. Making good on that promise to myself demands no explanation of purpose and remains one of my crowning achievements to date.

After leaving university and entering the work-place I was faced with a crippling sense of reality, that even as a skilled laborer, wages received were underpaid, overtaxed and grossly inadequate to be considered livable. I knew then and there that I needed to find my “niche” in life, in order to sustain the cost of living and hopefully, someday make something of myself.  Through a series of events, I began working property maintenance for an apartment complex in Sacramento. The skills gained there led to an employment with Sears as an Appliance Repair Technician. This was my golden ticket. Sears supplied me with what was then a sustainable income and the opportunity to save for the downpayment on a house. With that goal in mind, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to buy in New Hampshire. In October of 2017, on my 34h birthday I closed on a modest house with a small piece of land in Danbury and have never felt more at home.

I have domiciled here in New Hampshire ever since. Eventually I grew tired of working for a multi-million dollar conglomerate corporation, constantly feeling overworked and under-payed that I decided to take matters and my future into my own hands. So I branched off and established my own appliance repair company. In the Fall of 2022 I began the licensing process and by April I was successfully operating as a single member LLC, proudly servicing nearly half the state of New Hampshire.

Throughout my life I have had many endeavors, and faced every kind of adversity along the way that one could imagine. I have learned that people will not hesitate to cast a shadow of jealous doubt, or provide a not so quaint opinions and unsolicited advise. Regardless, I have remained autonomous in my decision making and unfettered by persuasion. I have learned that as life unfolds, hard work, faith, dedication and sheer determination is more than enough to get you to the finish line.

Now, at the age of 38 years old I find myself in a world where my liberty, freedom and general happiness are being threatened by domestic adversaries. These individuals serve only to further themselves and their desire to rule supreme, their policies and agendas are focused on crippling democracy and the American way of life. I feel a call to action, to do whatever is within my ability to prevent these radicals from destroying the country I love.

Living in New Hampshire has been the greatest blessing, and has showed me the true meaning of community. It is where my Great-Grandparents settled after leaving Ireland, and it is where I am proud to call home today.