MORE GOP PRIMARY HEADACHES: “Bitter” Republican Senate Primary Contest Taking Shape in New Hampshire

Add New Hampshire to the list of Republicans’ “nightmare” primary problems in 2020

As a new right-wing candidate enters the New Hampshire Senate race today and another gets ready to jump in behind him, the GOP is bracing for yet another messy and distracting primary battle. The candidates are already swiping at each other in this “potentially bitter” three-way fight, which is certain to drag down whichever flawed nominee makes it out of this late primary.

While Republicans fight each other, Senator Jeanne Shaheen continues to make a difference for New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, and was ranked one of the most popular Senators in the country last week.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

WMUR: Potentially bitter 2020 Republican US Senate primary contest taking shape in NH

By John DiStaso

July 22, 2019

Key Points:

• Public endorsements and behind-the-scenes messaging mark the beginning of a potentially bitter primary battle among Republicans who hope to win the right to take on Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in her bid for a third term in the fall of 2020.

• Former New Hampshire House speaker William O’Brien of Nashua will become the second Republican to announce his candidacy for his party’s U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday during what’s being billed as a rally at the American Legion Henry J. Sweeney Post No. 2 in Manchester.

• He’ll follow retired Brig. General Donald Bolduc of Stratham, who announced his candidacy June 24 and is making his first bid for elected office.

• Expected to join the race in the coming months is Bryant “Corky” Messner, the founder and partner of a Colorado law firm who has owned a home in Wolfeboro for about a dozen years and has been a resident of that community for about a year. He announced the formation of an exploratory committee last week.

• Bolduc and O’Brien – and Messner, assuming he enters the race as anticipated – can be expected to promote themselves as strong conservatives, while the opposing campaigns can be expected to try to show otherwise and point to alleged weaknesses in the others’ records and backgrounds.

Read the full story here.

Read more about Republicans’ “nightmare” primary problems:

• The Hill: GOP frets over nightmare scenario for Senate primaries
• Raleigh News & Observer: They gave to Tillis in the past. Now they’re leading his GOP rival’s first fundraiser.
• Arizona Republic: #DemandDaniel: Website briefly appears for Daniel McCarthy, possible GOP challenger to Martha McSally
• Washington Times: Muddied GOP field boosts ‘endangered’ Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama
• CNN: Kris Kobach running for Senate seat in Kansas setting up sharp GOP primary
• Wall Street Journal: “Critics fear divisive candidacy of the former Kansas secretary of state could cost GOP a seat”
• The Hill: Conservatives spark threat of bloody GOP primaries

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