Nasty NH Primary: GOP “Senate Hopefuls Lob Barbs At Each Other” In “Fiesty” Debates

New Hampshire Union Leader: “Senate hopefuls lob barbs at each other”
The Pulse of NH: “The five major US Senate Republican candidates sparred”
NBC News: “Republican candidates in a New Hampshire Senate primary debate over the weekend raced to the right, casting doubt on the 2020 election and discrediting the FBI”

With under a month to go, infighting in the New Hampshire GOP Senate primary is heating up – news coverage is highlighting how “the five major US Senate Republican candidates sparred” and “attacked each other for past statements and temperament” in two recent “feisty” debates as the candidates “raced to the right.”

See for yourself:

New Hampshire Union Leader: Four of five Senate hopefuls lob barbs at each other
By Kevin Landrigan
August 17, 2022

• Four of the five major candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate attacked each other for past statements and temperament during a feisty two-hour radio debate Tuesday.

• Former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith played the role of chief aggressor, launching criticisms at retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc of Stratham and Senate President Chuck Morse of Salem, the two leading candidates in the latest Saint Anselm College poll.

• “Your MO seems to be fire, ready, aim and speak before you think about these things,” Smith said to Bolduc early in the debate on the “Good Morning New Hampshire” program with Jack Heath.

• Bolduc said Smith brags about his record as a state legislator but claimed he missed 61% of the votes.

• “You need to watch your flank, too. You make critical comments and you have to stop it. You act like a Democrat,” Bolduc said.

• All five candidates said they would welcome former President Trump’s endorsement.

NBC News: New Hampshire Republican Senate hopefuls trash FBI, 2020 election results on debate stage
By Ben Kamisar and Bridget Bowman
August 15, 2022

• Republican candidates in a New Hampshire Senate primary debate over the weekend raced to the right, casting doubt on the 2020 election and discrediting the FBI after the recent search of former President Donald Trump’s home.

• Speaking at a debate sponsored by the Government Integrity Project, a conservative group, retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, cryptocurrency investor Bruce Fenton and former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith all raised unfounded doubts about the last presidential election. None would affirmatively say that they knew who won the 2020 election — President Joe Biden won the election and numerous court cases and audits have not uncovered information that challenge that fact.

• Fenton said that “we can’t tell what’s true,” but he knows there was “a lot of fraud” during the election; Smith said “it’s very unlikely that Joe Biden got 81 million votes” and said he’d support investigations into the 2020 election if elected; and Bolduc said “I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by [it].”

• Bolduc and Fenton also said they support repealing the 17th Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of senators. Before that amendment was enacted, state legislators chose who would represent the state in the Senate. 

New Hampshire Public Radio: GOP Senate candidates frame primary race as insiders vs outsiders
By Josh Rogers
August 16, 2022

• Smith, meanwhile, criticized what he termed Bolduc’s “shoot, ready, aim” approach, which has included Bolduc alleging, without evidence, that Sununu is a “Communist Chinese sympathizer.”

• “We need serious people running for this seat to be elected to the United States Senate,” Smith said.

• They all said they agreed with the state’s newly enacted 24-week abortion ban. They also all downplayed the effects of climate change.

• The candidates were of a mind though, when asked by the debate’s moderator, Jack Heath, about accepting Trump’s endorsement.

• “Anyone not want the endorsement of Donald Trump?” Heath said. “Ok, it’s quiet,” Heath noted.

The Pulse of NH: The Five Major US Senate Republican Candidates Sparred In Our Live Debate On GMNH
By Michael Pomp
August 16, 2022

• In one of the few live debates of the primary season, the five main Republican candidates for the US Senate race squared off in the studios of the Good Morning New Hampshire Show on The Pulse of NH.

• All the candidates said they opposed federal funding for planned parenthood. All candidates said they are pro life when it comes to the abortion debate.

• All five of the candidates said an endorsement from former president Donald Trump in their race would have impact and all five said they would welcome a Trump endorsement.

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