Tony Labranche (born November 11, 2001) is a

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

politician. He was the youngest member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the youngest openly LGBTQ+ legislator in United States history.

Early life

Tony Labranche was born in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...

on November 11, 2001, to parents Patrick Labranche and Sandra Martin. Both of whom are originally from

Thetford Mines Thetford Mines ( Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality. The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 141 miles northeast of Montreal an ...

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

where the majority of his family still lives today. Labranche was diagnosed with stage three

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

at age ten. In 2014, Labranche moved to

Amherst, New Hampshire Amherst is a town in Hillsborough County in the state of New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,753 at the 2020 census. Amherst is home to Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, Hodgman State Forest, the Joe English Reservation and Baboosi ...

Education

Labranche graduated from

Souhegan High School Souhegan Cooperative High School () is a Coalition of Essential Schools high school located in Amherst, New Hampshire, in the United States. Students from Amherst and Mont Vernon attend Souhegan for 9th through 12th grades. There are about 750 stu ...

in early 2020. Labranche currently attends

Nashua Community College Nashua Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Nashua, New Hampshire. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire. Enrollment was 2,422 students in 2013 and 1,798 students in 2017, most of them part-time. History ...

and is majoring in political science.

Political career

In April 2020 Labranche was selected to serve as an alternate delegate for

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

at the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

. While finishing his senior year of high school Labranche ran unsuccessfully for the Souhegan Cooperative School Board. Labranche then pursued a seat in the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

. Labranche won that bid, and took office on December 3, 2020. In 2021 Labranche ran for Rules Committee of the

New Hampshire Democratic Party The New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Its chair is Raymond Buckley, and its vice chairs are Martha Fuller Clark and Bette Lasky. The most recent Democratic governor ...

. In the same year Labranche ran again for a seat on the Souhegan Cooperative School Board unsuccessfully. In 2022 Labranche announced that he would leave the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and caucus as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He cited issues with New Hampshire Democratic Party Leadership, Joe Biden's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

response, and the

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...

as reasons for his departure. On August 8, 2022, Labranche resigned from the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labranche, Tony 2001 births Living people Democratic Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives People from Amherst, New Hampshire 21st-century American politicians People from Nashua, New Hampshire LGBT state legislators in New Hampshire Politicians from Nashua, New Hampshire 21st-century American LGBT people