Beverly Hollingworth has spent most of her adult life representing her hometown of Hampton, NH as both a civic and business leader.

The owner and operator of a hotel and restaurant at Hampton Beach, her experience as a leader in the business community and her work as a patient advocate at the New England Medical Center prompted her involvement in government service where she could sponsor needed legislation that would assist working families.

Ms. Hollingworth was elected to the NH House of Representatives in 1980 and led the effort to introduce “living will” legislation that succeeded in spite of the governor’s veto. Her efforts also ensured that utilities met the cost of closing nuclear plants and storing nuclear waste.  She sponsored legislation that required elected officials to disclose conflicts any conflicts of interest. She served in the House until she was elected to the New Hampshire Senate in 1990.

Throughout her five terms as senator, she continued to address the issues she had pursued in the House, children’s health, domestic violence, and the safety of nuclear power. Legislation she sponsored that established an immunization program for children, in partnership with the insurance industry, became a model that was emulated by other states.  She also sponsored legislation that strengthened New Hampshire’s domestic violence laws. 

As Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, she was the principal architect of the Senate budget, which was endorsed by the House without amendments, an unprecedented achievement in New Hampshire.  Working with pharmaceutical manufacturers, healthcare practitioners, retail pharmacists and other public interest groups, then Senator Hollingworth established the “Medication Bridge Program” that provides prescription medications to qualified patients of all ages without charge and at no cost to the taxpayer.  She was also a key member of the negotiating team that fashioned the settlement agreement to complete the deregulation of the retail electric industry thus reducing residential rates by 15%.

In 1999, her fellow Senators, both Republican and Democrat, elected her to succeed the late Clesson “Junie” Blaisdell as President of the Senate.  Similarly, she was selected by her colleagues to serve as the presiding officer of the first impeachment trial in New Hampshire’s history.

When the election of 2000 returned a Republican majority to the Senate, than Senator Hollingworth became the Democratic Leader. As the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, she was instrumental in doubling funding to promote travel and tourism in New Hampshire, our primary industry. With the resultant increase in revenue derived from the tourism increase, she worked to ensure funding for the Granite State Scholars Program, the Tuition Incentive Grants Program and the Best Schools Leadership Program, as well as increases in both the operating and capital budgets for the University System of New Hampshire.  Additionally, she was instrumental in the appropriation of $12 million for the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP).

After an unsuccessful run for governor in 2002, she expanded her community involvement in the Hampton and Seacoast area focusing on environmental and economic issues.  Councilor Hollingworth serves as a volunteer docent at the Seacoast Science Center, having completed the docent training program at UNH.  She was recently appointed by Governor John Lynch to serve on the Leadership Team of the NH Citizens Health Initiative.

A Past President of the Hampton and Seacoast Area Chamber of Commerce, Bev currently serves on the Board of Directors, as well as on the boards of Seacoast Hospice and the Northeast Health Care Quality Foundation.  She has been awarded the Civil Justice Award by the New Hampshire Trial Lawyers Association and was named a Hero for New Hampshire Children by the New Hampshire Alliance for Children and Youth. In 2001 she was awarded the Caroline Gross Fellowship to attend Harvard University where she completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Councilor Beverly Hollingworth has four children and three grandchildren.  She and her husband, Dr. William Gilligan, a vice-president of Emerson College in Boston, reside in Hampton, NH.

Represents the cities and towns of Atkinson, Barrington, Brentwood, Chester, Danville, Dover, Durham, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Fremont, Greenland, Hampstead, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kensington, Kingston, Lee, Madbury, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, Newton, North Hampton, Nottingham, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rye, Salem, Sandown, Seabrook, South Hampton, Stratham, and Windham.
For additional information on the cities and towns in this district, go to www.nh.gov/municipal/.