About Darryn

A Kid Who Learned Early (1981-2000)

I didn't have an easy start. My sister and I grew up in foster care. Life was uncertain, and I learned young that the systems that are supposed to protect people don't always work the way they should.

At the age of twelve, my sister and I were adopted by a loving family of hard workers and strivers. My dad was a teacher who provided us with love and opportunity and that made all the difference.

Earned, Not Given (2000-2008)

People have asked me for years why I joined the Marine Corps. It's always been a hard question to answer.

College was the expected next step. And I could have taken it. But I remembered all the times in foster care when I told myself: if I ever make it out of this, then I'll do… I had made it out. And I had a debt to repay — to that younger version of myself, and to the many kids who don't make it out of foster care. College would have to wait. The Marine Corps was where I went to pay that debt.

I served two enlistments (2000-2008). I deployed to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and later to Iraq in 2005. I was honorably discharged in 2008 as a Sergeant of Marines.

One of the most lasting parts of my Marine Corps service was the people that I served with: remarkable Americans and amazing leaders who set a standard that I still measure myself against today: as a husband, a father and as someone who wants to serve this community that I call home.

The Quiet Years (2008-2019)

My wife and I spent our twenties and early thirties studying and working our way through veterinary and medical school. The Marine Corps had taught me that nothing worth having comes easy. Those years proved it.

I earned my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University in 2015. My wife earned her M.D. from UMass Medical School in 2016 and went on to complete a residency in internal medicine. There were years when we were both working 90-plus hour weeks, buried in student loan debt, and dreaming about the day we'd own a home where we could raise our family. Some weeks that dream felt very far away.

But we had made a commitment to each other and to the life we were building together. So we kept going.

Running for a state office and losing (2018 State Rep Race in MA)

In 2018, I ran for state office in Massachusetts. Our state representative — a Democrat — had voted against a ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ kids. People in our community were upset and asking the same question: why is our state rep focused on the wrong issues?

I decided to be part of the answer. I announced that I was going to run for state rep against then incumbent. The incumbent retired. I ran in a hard-fought primary and lost. While I didn’t win, the goal of helping effect real change was accomplished.

I remember telling my wife back in 2018, shortly after losing: “I don’t think I ever want to do THAT again. I want to focus on our family instead.”

How Windham Found Us (2020-today)

A few months later, in November of 2018, I had a veterinary continuing education event at The Castleton Conference Center here in town. During the lunch break, I drove around town. Something clicked. I remember coming home later and talking with my wife and saying: I don't think Massachusetts is where we should raise our family. There’s something about New Hampshire and Windham in particular that jumped out at me.

She came up, looked around, and agreed. She completed her internal medicine residency and became a practicing primary care physician in Salem, NH in 2019. We bought our home in Windham in June of 2020.

Why Am I Running for State Rep Now in 2026?

I wasn't planning to run again. For years, I didn't even think about it.

What changed was the conversations. Over the past several months, long-time Windham residents told me what they were seeing — and what they were worried about. I started looking more closely at the voting records of our current state representatives. What I found concerns me.

Windham has grown more than almost any other town in New Hampshire over the past 25 years. That growth comes with real costs — to our schools, our roads, our budget. And now we're facing pressure from top-down state mandates that threaten our ability to make our own decisions. We’re one of the top 10 towns in New Hampshire and I believe that we deserve higher caliber representation than what we currently have.

I serve on Windham's Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Subcommittee where I’ve been able to glimpse the growth challenges our town is facing and the committed local leaders (elected, appointed, hired) who make our town the successful place that it is.

On the Subject of Labels

Yes, I'm a Democrat.

But here's what I know: labels don't fix schools, control property taxes, or protect your town from decisions made by people who don't live here. Work does. Character does. Showing up does.

I'm still that foster kid who learned to read a room and judge people by what they do — not what they call themselves. I want to be of service to everyone in our town: Republican, Independent, Democrat — because that's what the job requires and because anything less is unacceptable.