Rep. Ellen Read Names Gracie Gato Communications Director

Appointment follows Rep. Read's historic banishment from the NH State House chamber and the Senate's defeat of her survivors' rights bill, HB 1633

NEWMARKET, NH, UNITED STATES, April 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- New Hampshire State Representative Ellen Read (D–Rockingham 10) announced today that New Hampshire journalist and broadcaster Gracie Gato has been named Communications Director for her office, effective immediately.

The appointment follows two historic moments in Rep. Read's tenure in the New Hampshire House.

In September 2025, Rep. Read became the first American elected official in the seventeen-year history of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla movement to participate in a humanitarian voyage, sailing aboard the King Julian from Catania, Sicily as part of the Thousand Madleens to Gaza fleet. She joined elected officials from the Belgian, Danish, European Union, Irish, French, and Spanish parliaments and was the only American elected official aboard. She returned to New Hampshire on November 3, 2025.

In April 2026, Rep. Read became the first representative in New Hampshire history to be formally banished by the Speaker of the House from the chamber, the gallery, and her own legislative office anteroom on non-session days. The banishment followed a single expletive spoken in a public hallway during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her bill HB 1633 — survivors' rights notification legislation requiring hospitals and law enforcement to inform sexual assault survivors of their rights under existing New Hampshire law. The bill had passed the New Hampshire House three times, most recently 340 to 1, before being sent to interim study by the Senate.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, approximately one thousand New Hampshire residents each year leave a hospital following a sexual assault without evidence collected — not due to ineligibility, but because they are not informed of their right under state law to an evidence collection kit.

Rep. Read represents Rockingham District 10, encompassing Newmarket and Newfields, and has served in the New Hampshire House since her first election on November 8, 2016. She is the Founder of the New Hampshire House Progressive Caucus, Deputy Ranking Member of the House Committee on Housing, State Lead for the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, and State Director for the National Foundation of Women Legislators. She has received national recognition for her work on democracy reform, women's rights, and animal welfare.

Gato is a New Hampshire-based multimedia journalist and broadcaster with more than two decades of experience in journalism, radio, voice work, and on-camera production. She is the host of the Gracie Gato Podcast and the founder of NHCEA Inc. — the New Hampshire Coalition for Ethics and Accountability (EIN 88-1014268) — an independent publishing entity under which she produces investigative reporting, political commentary, and long-form interviews covering New Hampshire civic life. Her recent work includes original reporting on the three-year legislative opposition campaign against HB 1633 and an exclusive on-record podcast interview with Rep. Read on the circumstances surrounding the banishment.

In her new role, Gato will lead all communications and media strategy for Rep. Read's office, including press outreach, public statements, constituent communications, and digital media. She will serve as the principal point of contact for all press inquiries directed to the office.

Effective with the appointment, Gato will separate her communications work for Rep. Read's office from her independent journalism published under NHCEA Inc. and the Gracie Gato Podcast. Editorial decisions and reporting regarding Rep. Read will be appropriately disclosed and, where warranted, handled by independent contributors to preserve editorial integrity. This reflects standard ethical practice recognized by working journalists who transition into communications roles.

The appointment is effective immediately.

For media inquiries: gracie.gato81@gmail.com

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