Death Penalty Opponents Gain Unlikely Allies: Republicans

Governing: No one would ever question Dave Danielson’s credentials as a Republican. As a 17-year-old in his home state of New Hampshire, he led a local group of teenage Barry Goldwater supporters in 1964 and went on to vote for every Republican presidential candidate since.

He also shared the GOP’s support for the death penalty. But seven years ago, after winning election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Danielson re-examined that stance after a friend asked how he could reconcile state-authorized executions with his deeply ingrained belief in the sanctity of life. It was a dichotomy he’d never pondered, he recalled.

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