The first debate between Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and Democrat state Sen. Tom Sherman Tuesday highlighted wildly differing assessments over the direction of New Hampshire.
Throughout the one hour debate, hosted by Binnie Media, Sherman argued the state has lost its way under Sununu, on issues including abortion rights, energy policy and education.
“Chris Sununu has been taking the state off course,” Sherman said, “caving to extremists in the Legislature.”
Sununu, seeking a rare fourth term as governor, meanwhile, heaped praise on the gains he says the state has made on his watch.
“We are the envy of not just New England but of the country,” Sununu said. “We are doing really really well. It doesn't mean we don't have our challenges, but this is New Hampshire.”
Sununu and Sherman agreed the cost of living in New Hampshire has become too high. Both cited energy prices as a real problem but called for different remedies.
“We need to expand our energy options. That means lifting the caps on net metering, on solar, on wind, on hydro,” Sherman said.
Sununu, meanwhile, accused Democrats, here and in Washington, of pushing “Green New Deal stuff’’ too hard.
“We have to get natural gas into New England,” Sununu said. “It is our baseload generation, our most reliable source of power, especially in the winter.”
Sununu, the son of a former governor, repeatedly suggested that Sherman, a doctor, was out of touch with the concerns of average people.
“That’s elitist, that’s a very elitist attitude,” Sununu interrupted as Sherman said tax dollars would be better spent on public schools than on the state’s voucher-like school choice program targeted at moderate- to low-income families.
Sununu also repeatedly accused Sherman of voting for an income tax to fund a medical and family leave program that would have forced private employers who didn’t offer their own plans to deduct from workers’ paychecks.
“Either you are lying about it, or you know it’s an income tax,” Sununu said to Sherman.
“It’s not an income tax,” Sherman replied.
Sherman, meanwhile pressed Sununu on abortion rights, which he said is the most important issue facing the state in the wake of Sununu’s decision last year to sign into law a ban on almost all abortions after 24 weeks.
“On Tuesday he was pro-choice, and on Thursday he had done more than any other governor for the pro-life movement.” Sherman said referring to a remark Sununu made about the abortion law on a conservative podcast.
Sununu stressed he’d prefer New Hampshire’s law to have more exceptions and carry no criminal penalties for doctors who violate it.
“At the end of the day I think we see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff,” Sununu said.
One thing the two did not agree on is how well Sununu managed the state’s COVID vaccine rollout.
Sherman went so far as to allege more people in New Hampshire died of COVID due to Sununu’s failure in 2021 to get top Republicans in the Legislature and on the Executive Council to quickly accept $22 million of federal funding for vaccines.
“People got sick, and people died, who would have benefitted from having the earlier vaccine,” Sherman argued.
“That is a lie, like it’s not even a debatable issue,” Sununu said.
“The idea that people died because of that is absolutely insulting,” he added.
