Perhaps the biggest surprise of last night was not that Democrat Jackie Cilley lost to her rival Maggie, Hassan, but by how big a margin. What was supposed to be a close race turned out to be a run-away.
This primary season the question has been: will democrats elect a candidate who hasn’t pledged to veto an income or sales tax? From the outset, Cilley has made not taking such a pledge the centerpiece of her campaign.
But with the very first poll returns it was clear that Cilley was in for a rough night. Later she took the podium to concede the race.
Cilley: We moved the needle on pledge politics, we didn’t move it far enough, I understand that. But, we need to carry this fight on.
She lost the Democratic primary by double-digit margins.
The question for November will be, can Cilley supporters, who were very excited about Cilley, get excited enough to turn out and vote for Maggie Hassan.