Rep. Peter Varney is a libertarian running as a Republican candidate for re-election to his fifth term in the NH House. He is a resident of Alton, serves as fire chief for the Town of New Durham, and runs a part-time gun sales and gunsmithing business, and another selling and testing high voltage equipment.

A check of the Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance database shows Rep. Varney has never filed a report.

Still MIA in Concord and the County Delegation
Rep. Varney serves on no committees, and has not in other recent sessions, either. According to Citizens Count, he attended only 75% of the Session days, vs. 95% by other legislators. He did improve his session roll call voting record at the NH House from a dreadful 47% in 2021/22, to a dismal 69% in 23/24, but still far below the average of 93% of other legislators.

Rep. Varney’s attendance for Belknap County Delegations are worse. He has attended NO Delegation meetings to our knowledge, due to a conflicting meeting, therefore does not serve his combined 10,000 constituents in Alton and Barnstead in county issues.

Continues to Support Attacks on Gunstock
Rep. Varney is one of the legislators who unfortunately retained his seat after supporting the extreme libertarian takeover of the Gunstock Area Commission, along with his District 7 colleagues Barbara Comtois and Paul Terry.

While Rep.Varney doesn’t appear to be a leader in the attacks on Gunstock, in 2022 he aided and abetted the efforts of former Rep. Michael Silvia and Norm Silber to stack the Gunstock Area Commission with libertarian extremists.

In 2024, he was a co-sponsor to Rep. Barbara Comtois’ HB 1414, mandating, instead of routine outside audits, using forensic audits, used for investigating criminal activity. The bill also proposed increasing the revenue sharing percentage, and requiring video recording of Gunstock Area Committee meetings. HB 1414 was the ONLY bill co-sponsored by Rep. Varney in the 2023/24 session, and it was fortunately defeated.

Mr. Varney is Endorsed by a Libertarian/Free Stater Groups
The Liberty Alliance has not rated Rep. Varney for 2024, but has rated him highly in past legislative terms. He has, however, been rated 80% for 2024 by the John Birch Society’s Freedom Index. The John Birch Society is considered an anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and an anti-Semitic and racist organization by the Anti-Defamation League.