Last night Ovide Lamontagne turned a commanding lead in the polls into the Republican nomination for governor. His main challenger, first-time candidate Kevin Smith, conceded the race early in the evening.
In the race against a well-known candidate like Lamontagne, Smith was something of a long shot. And he acknowledged that he was the unknown candidate.
“We always knew that was going to be the biggest obstacle to overcome. And I think to the best extent that we tried to do it, we did a very good job at it," Smith said. "You know, we were up on TV for almost two months, we were up on radio for over a month, we ran a very rigorous grassroots campaign as well.”
Smith says it’s important for his supporters to back Lamontagne’s run for governor against Democrat Maggie Hassan. And, Smith’s offered to help his primary rival on the campaign trail however Lamontagne sees fit—putting up whatever political capital he’s so recently earned.