Republican voters in New Hampshire will decide on three primary elections Tuesday where candidates aligned with party leaders face off against more conservative rivals who have sought to play up their fealty to former President Donald Trump, who has so far stayed out of these races.
Here's an overview of each race.
U.S. Senate
The stakes are highest in the five-way GOP Senate primary whose winner will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in a race that’s among a handful that could decide party control over the U.S. Senate.
The sprawling field includes Chuck Morse, who is president of New Hampshire’s state Senate and a state budget expert, and Don Bolduc, a former army general who has backed Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. Bolduc has been dismissed as a “conspiracy theorist-type” by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who is backing Morse. Morse also has the support of an outside group run by a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. That group has spent $4 million to boost Morse and attack Bolduc, but Bolduc, who also ran for Senate in 2020, has campaigned doggedly, channeling conservative anger over COVID-19 lockdowns and promising to hold leaders in both parties to account.
“I am going to Washington D.C. to take the leadership there that is in place to task, for things they have done to us, that have hurt us,” Bolduc declared Saturday.
The field also includes businessman Vikram Mansharamani, Bitcoin investor Bruce Fenton, and former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith.
U.S. Congress
The state’s two Republican congressional primaries are also battles over the direction of the party.
New Hampshire’s 1st District -- which includes Manchester, the Seacoast and vote-rich commuter towns along the Massachusetts border -- is seen as a true swing district. There are five Republicans fighting to take on two-term incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas. They include the last GOP nominee for this seat: Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration state department staffer who got his political start in New Jersey as an aide to then-Gov. Chris Christie.
Mowers, 33, lost to Pappas by 5 points in 2020, and entered this race as its front runner. He’s also been endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but his victory Tuesday is far from assured. Karoline Leavitt, a 25-year-old former Trump administration assistant press secretary who has derided Mowers as the establishment’s “handpicked puppet” has gained ground in polling.
This race also includes former TV-reporter Gail Huff Brown (who's the wife of former U.S. Senator Scott Brown), state Representative Tim Baxter, and former Executive Councilor and state Senator Russell Prescott.
The race for New Hampshire’s 2nd District, which runs west from Salem to the Vermont border and includes the North Country, features Bob Burns, a serial candidate well-known in GOP activist circles. Burns bills himself as “pro-life, pro-Trump, America first.” He faces George Hansel, the Republican mayor of the liberal city of Keene. Hansel supports some abortion rights and has the support of Sununu. Hansel has accused Burns of repeatedly lying about his record, but has tacked right, including on issues like immigration, over the course of this race. The field also includes Lily Tang Williams, a libertarian-leading Republican from Weare. The winner of this primary faces five-term incumbent Democrat Annie Kuster, a prolific fundraiser.
New Hampshire governor
There is also a Republican primary for governor. Three-term incumbent Chris Sununu, the most successful Republican in the Granite State in a generation, is in strong shape to win. He faces three candidates, all staunch conservatives who are taking particular aim at Sununu’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Hampshire was less restrictive in terms of COVID policies than any of its New England neighbors, but closing of schools and businesses, and mask mandates still provoked a vehement response from some conservative activists who have protested outside Sununu’s house and forced the cancellation of his planned public inaugural ceremony in 2021.
“We have a governor who has stepped on our constitutional rights,” said Karen Testerman, one of the Republicans challenging Sununu.
Other Republicans in this race include Julian Acciard and Thad Riley.
