By Emily Schopfer
FAIR HAVEN – Carleigh Beriont grew up in Fair Haven, graduated from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School and is now running for Congress – in New Hampshire. Beriont is one of nine Democratic candidates seeking nomination for the open congressional seat formerly held by Chris Pappas, who is running for Senate.
Although no longer a Two River-area resident, Beriont, 37, said her youthful experiences and New Jersey upbringing greatly impacted what she is fighting for in her campaign.
After leaving Fair Haven at age 18, Beriont attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, followed by Harvard Divinity School and Harvard University. She later settled in the seaside town of Hampton, New Hampshire, with her husband Eric, a fellow Rumson-Fair Haven High School graduate. Beriont is now a mom of two, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, chairwoman of the Hampton Select Board, and a former union organizer. It seemed natural to add congressional candidate to the list.
Although she is running in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, Beriont came back to Monmouth County for a meet-and-greet at the Parlor Gallery on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park June 3, noting New Jersey is still very much her home and influences her and her campaign to this day.
“Asbury is where my mother-in-law and father-in-law live,” Beriont said. Her campaign is a family effort, with her husband, parents, and in-laws all involved.
Additionally, she noted that Asbury Park has many similarities to her new hometown in New Hampshire. Both are shore towns with seasonal populations and, as a result, face similar challenges in budgeting and in keeping local businesses open during the “off” months.
Beriont also wants to focus her efforts on “local anchors,” communities that are staples within the larger region, something she feels defines Asbury Park.
During the event, Beriont highlighted a special person from her Fair Haven upbringing: Bob Galante, her history teacher from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. Beriont recalled an important lesson Galante taught her: “Every right that we have – and every justice that we face – is the result of choices made by people.” And right now, Beriont said, is a “moment in time when those choices are harming so many people.” This idea is something she carries with her in her political mission.
Beront praised the public school education she received in New Jersey, saying it greatly inspired her to work to improve New Hampshire’s public school system. “New Hampshire is last in state funding for schools,” Beriont said. “I want to make public education in New Hampshire as good as Fair Haven… I know how valuable a good public education can be because I had it.”
To achieve this, she said she specifically wants to focus on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and better enforce it in New Hampshire schools.
While “education is something I really have a priority on,” Beriont said, “fixing our healthcare system is huge.” She said the “insanity” of prior authorizations (a health insurance process requiring a doctor to obtain approval from insurance before covering a medical service, treatment or medication) and rising prescription drug prices are two significant problems she plans to address if elected to Congress.
Although Beriont praised New Jersey, she said there were experiences she had in New Hampshire that she feels could improve her home state. “When I was growing up, politics felt very removed,” Beriont said. “This is something I love about New Hampshire – access to politicians,” she said. She is excited about this shrinking gap between the public and local politicians she is seeing in New Jersey.
Beriont isn’t limiting her message to New Jersey and New Hampshire. “I don’t care where you live, where you vote; I care about you,” she said. This election is a test for the United States as a country for the kind of future we want to create, she added.
“I launched this campaign for Congress last June 4, and since then I have put 25,000 miles on my car,” Beriont said during the event. “What I’ve heard from people across those miles is that they want to be safe in their homes. They want to afford to live here, they want a functioning government, and they want the temperature of the politics turned down.”
“We need people in government who care…, who can bring people together and hold them together when things get hard,” Beriont said to the crowd at the Parlor Gallery. Those “who recognize it is okay to disagree as long as we’re committed to each other and to the democratic process.”
New Hampshire’s Democratic and Republican primaries will take place Sept. 8. Nine Democratic candidates, including Beriont, and six Republican candidates are on the ballot.
The article originally appeared in the June 25 – July 1, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
