Tuesday’s results capped six months of costly and lopsided nomination contests that reflected the influence of Donald Trump and his polarizing movement — even in congressional races like New Hampshire where he did not endorse. GOP primary voters often chose standard-bearers who embraced his false electoral claims, mimicked his combative style and promoted his ideas. On Wednesday, Republican Don Bolduc, an election denier who has raised the prospect of abolishing the FBI, advanced to a showdown with Sen. Maggie Hassan (DN.H.) in the fall, withstanding a $5 million ad onslaught from a group with ties to to Senate Republican leaders. Republican Robert Burns, who opposes abortion rights, prevailed in a House primary against a candidate backed by Gov. Chris Sununu (D), while former Trump aide Caroline Levitt defeated the leader’s preferred candidate of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in another. Now comes the reckoning in New Hampshire — where all three races have vulnerable Democrats — and not just for Republicans. Overall, they have fielded a diverse pool of candidates, including women and candidates of color and some moderates, all in winnable races, particularly in the House. Winning just five more of those seats, and one in the Senate, would give Republicans control of Congress for the second half of President Biden’s term. But the struggle to get there has taken a financial and political toll on the party. In New Hampshire, party leaders wasted millions of dollars and expended significant political capital trying to defeat successful candidates. “You sent the biggest message to the establishment tonight,” Bolduc, a retired brigadier general, said at his victory party in Hampton. Midway through his speech, Bolduc held a small shield with arrows sticking out, to symbolize the “arrows” he had taken from a multimillion-dollar GOP ad campaign. On the trail, Bolduc had called Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer” and said “Trump has won” the 2020 presidential election. Leavitt, a 25-year veteran of Trump’s White House press corps who would be the youngest woman ever elected in Congress, called the Biden-Trump race “rigged.” Burns, a former county official running for the other state seat, highlighted his own anti-abortion views and bashed a moderate mayor who called himself “pro-choice.” In interviews after the vote, Republicans said all three races remained winnable in November. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Rona McDaniel will join the state party for a candidate “unity breakfast” Thursday designed to raise money for the ticket and heal the wounds of a long primary. According to the candidates’ preliminary filings, Hassan entered September with $7.4 million, Rep. Chris Pappas (DN.H.) had $2.3 million and Rep. Ann Kuster (DN.H.) had $2. 9 million dollars. Their opponents entered the month with $83,000, $573,000 and $57,000, respectively. “Once again, Kevin McCarthy’s PAC spent millions of dollars to lose,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (DN.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Now he’s stuck with two MAGA extremists who would ban abortion nationwide.” PACs linked to McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spent nearly $10 million to help the trailing candidates on Tuesday, signaling the party’s opinion of them the candidates — and what the conservative party’s basic thinking of their leadership. Campaign ads from White Mountain PAC, a pop-up group with a treasurer tied to McConnell, warned that Bolduc had “crazy ideas” and would not be able to unseat Hassan, who is seeking a second term after winning the closest race of the Senate. 2016. A 30-second spot by the Republican Main Street Partnership attacked Leavitt as a “woke” candidate who “ignored her parents.” Both campaigns prominently portrayed the insurgent candidates as insufficiently pro-Trump, a nod to voter sentiment in the state. Bolduc and Leavitt responded by slamming the “swamp” for trying to stop them and vowing to stand up to McConnell and McCarthy when they get to Washington. “Any one of our people has the ability, properly equipped, to defeat their Democratic opponents because of how bad they are and how bad things are,” New Hampshire GOP Chairman Stephen Stepanek said in an interview before the polls closed. ballot boxes. “The question is, how much support are we going to get nationally?” On Wednesday, national Republicans said they remained committed to victories in New Hampshire. After state Senate President Chuck Morse conceded to Bolduc and 2020 candidate Matt Mowers conceded to Leavitt, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), told CNN that the party “will spend money” to try to defeat Hasan. Chris Hartline, the director of communications for the NRSC, added that voters would be “ready to vote for a Republican who stands up to Joe Biden and his agenda that hurts Granite Staters” and that Hassan remains “the most vulnerable incumbent Democratic”. the country, even after spending millions of dollars in television ads to rebuild its support. The McConnell-affiliated Senate Leadership Fund has reserved more than $23 million in television ad time for the New Hampshire race and announced no changes to that plan after Morse’s concession. Hassan’s first post-primary ad, which began airing Wednesday, paired Bolduc with McConnell and warned that a Republican majority would “push for a statewide abortion ban.” On primary day, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.) had imposed a 15-week abortion ban with limited exceptions. McConnell told reporters that “most members of my congress” did not support it. Democrats said Wednesday that primaries widened their path to retaining the majority after the Supreme Court’s summer abortion ruling and a series of legislative victories in Washington improved the party’s standing. But before Bolduc’s victory, Republicans were already fielding Senate candidates who trailed Democrats in resources raised and trailed the party’s other 2022 candidates in the polls — including Herschel Walker in Georgia, Blake Masters in Arizona, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and JD Vance in Ohio. Both major parties are still spending heavily in those races, and Democrats have pushed back on the idea that right-wing GOP candidates are guaranteed wins in November. “None of these races are going to be easy,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, referring to the re-election of Hassan, Pappa and Kuster. “Nothing should ever be taken for granted, and our candidates and base will work like hell to win.” In New Hampshire, Hasan was critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border, but she faced no serious challenge to her left on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on Saturday after beginning a discussion with Pappas, Hassan said the Biden administration was “too late to really start addressing inflation” and that he would “continue to stand up” to his president on his handling of the economy. borders and drug trafficking. Republican candidates do not have the same space to criticize their party leader. In New Hampshire, where Mowers was endorsed by Trump in 2020 and had worked on his 2016 campaign, Leavitt attacked him for not going far enough in challenging Biden’s defeat. In the other House race, Burns pointed out that he had supported Trump in 2016 when many other Republicans balked. “I think there are more swamp creatures — that’s what I call them — then I realized,” said Catherine Latino, a New Hampshire voter who joined Leavitt at a rally with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) last week. “Trump still resonates.”
