The stakes are high, with the Senate split 50-50 on the line and Republican candidates in Arizona, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania also struggling. The GOP had hoped that New Hampshire, where Hassan won by just 1,000 votes six years ago, would be added to the list of battleground states in November. Meanwhile, the fields were set for two of New England’s most competitive House races on Tuesday, too — including one in New Hampshire, where a Trump White House aide who has also parroted his campaign lies fraudulently defeated an establishment-backed candidate. further complicating GOP efforts to win control of the House.
The results are still out in the New Hampshire Senate primary
Republicans’ hopes of winning a majority in the Senate could hinge on the outcome of the New Hampshire primary. Morse is backed by Republican incumbents, including moderate Gov. Chris Sununu, and has been boosted by a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, which has poured more than $4 million into the race in an effort to block Boldout. to win the primaries. Bolduc aligned himself closely with former President Donald Trump. He said he “agreed with Trump’s assessment” of the 2020 election — namely Trump’s lie that President Joe Biden’s victory came as a result of widespread fraud. “I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by” that letter, Bolduc said in an August primary debate. Bolduc also called Sununu, the Republican governor whom nationalist figures tried to recruit to the race, a “Chinese Communist sympathizer.” He has said he would repeal the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, which requires states to directly elect their senators, and raised the prospect of abolishing the FBI. What was missing from the New Hampshire primary was Trump. His decision not to endorse either candidate was a departure from Trump’s approach in most Senate primaries this year. Hassan won by just 1,000 votes in 2016, and Republicans see New Hampshire as a potential rebound in their bid for control of the Senate currently split evenly between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.
Trump’s style trumps substance in New Hampshire
Emulating Trump’s brash style and parroting his electoral refusal has again proved more powerful in a Republican primary than embracing the political substance of his tenure in the White House. That’s the lesson from New Hampshire’s 1st District Republican primary, where 25-year-old political newcomer Caroline Levitt, a former Trump aide who most closely mimicked the politics that set Trump’s trajectory for political associates, defeated Matt Mowers , another former Trump administration official, but one who has been more cautious about issues like the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from the former President. Mowers fully embraced aspects of Trump’s tenure. His website was full of posts defining the former President, and Mowers touted Trump’s endorsement of him in his failed 2020 bid for the seat. Rhetorically and stylistically, however, the two were dramatically different. Where Mowers had “confidence in the New Hampshire election,” Leavitt said she believes “the 2020 election was undoubtedly stolen by President Trump.” When Mowers proposed hearings to determine whether President Joe Biden should be impeached, Leavitt said unequivocally that the President should be impeached. And where Mowers said he “stands for the science” when asked about the newly released coronavirus vaccine, Leavitt said it’s “none of your business.” Mowers’ restraint effectively opened the door for someone like Leavitt to win over Republican voters in New Hampshire, many of whom still support the former president. As polls showed Leavitt surging in recent days, outside groups like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, aligned with the Congressional Leadership Fund and Defending Main Street, spent millions on ads trying to help Mowers beat the challenge from the right. But the money was largely against them — and now Republicans are saddled with a more complicated candidate in a race against Rep. Chris Pappas, one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country. Leavitt is one of the first Gen Z candidates to ever win a primary.
Rhode Island selects candidates in competitive House race
The field is set for what is expected to be one of New England’s most competitive congressional races this fall after Rhode Island State Treasurer Seth Magaziner won the 2nd District Democratic primary, according to CNN . He now faces Republican Alan Fung, the mayor of Cranston, in the district where longtime Rep. Jim Langevin is retiring. Langevin, a Democrat, has won races without serious competition since 2001, and President Joe Biden won there by 14 percentage points in 2020. But Republicans believe the seat is up for grabs. Fung was the Republican candidate for governor in 2014 and 2018, losing twice to former Gov. Gina Raimondo, but performed well in the district, which covers the western half of the state. Magaziner defeated Sarah Morgenthau, who was the director of the Peace Corps Response under former President Barack Obama. David Segal, who once served in the state legislature and ran an unsuccessful race for Congress in 2010. and Joy Fox, who worked as communications director for Langevin and Raimondo.
McKee lives in Rhode Island
One of the least popular governors in the country, Dan McKee of Rhode Island faced four primary challengers as he sought his first full, elected term. But McKee, who took over as governor last year when Raimondo left the job to join the Biden administration, is no stranger to tough primaries — he nearly lost his bid for the lieutenant governor nomination in 2018. In the end, however, despite being saddled with a federal investigation into the controversial awarding of a government contract to a firm with ties to an old ally — an episode in which McKee has denied any wrongdoing — he emerged from the crowded field, likely benefiting from a split among the anti-establishment vote. Both of his closest rivals, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, ran as reformers with promises to clean up government. Foulkes, who has vowed not to run for re-election unless she revitalizes Rhode Island schools, was endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The race was a setback for progressive favorite Matt Brown, the former secretary of state endorsed by Bernie Sanders, who has fallen behind the leaders four years after losing a primary challenge to Raimondo.
