The two gubernatorial nominees, Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Joyce Craig, campaigned 14 months before winning their primaries Tuesday night. Now they have just eight weeks until their general election showdown, when their performance is expected to influence down-ballot races.
“A good strong governor encourages people to vote for a team that will help them get the job done,” New Hampshire GOP Chairman Chris Ager said amid the noisy hubbub of Ayotte’s election night party in Manchester.
The fact that Ayotte, a former US senator, decisively beat “a great public servant” like former New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse shows that she has appeal among undeclared voters, who can cast a ballot in either party’s primary, Ager said.
“You don’t win that big with just Republicans only,” he said. “That’s a very, very big indicator of what’s going to happen in November.”
Ayotte captured roughly 63 percent of the GOP primary vote, while Morse carried about 34 percent, according to unofficial results via the Associated Press.
In the Democratic contest, Craig secured roughly 48 percent of the vote, while Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington had about 42 percent and Newmarket small-business owner Jonathan A. Kiper landed just shy of 10 percent.
Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, N.H., delivered a victory speech Tuesday night inside The Rex Theatre after she won the Democratic primary for New Hampshire governor.Steven Porter
Speaking to an exuberant crowd at Craig’s election night party in Manchester, former Governor John Lynch said Craig, a former mayor of the state’s most populous city, has shown herself to be the strong leader that New Hampshire needs.
“She is the only candidate in this race who has had executive experience, and I do believe that being mayor of Manchester is a more difficult job than being governor of the state of New Hampshire,” Lynch said.
“She has the integrity; she has the sense of ethics, the honesty; and she has earned the trust of the people of New Hampshire and obviously the people of Manchester,” he added.
George Harrington, 82, said he’s been voting in New Hampshire since 1964, when the minimum voting age was still 21. He voted for Craig in the Democratic primary, expressed optimism about her odds of retaking the corner office in light of Republican incumbent Governor Chris Sununu stepping aside, and said he didn’t like the personal attacks the Democratic candidates had lobbed at each other.
“I don’t know why they do that in a primary,” the retired Concord resident said.
A party’s ability to turn promptly to the general election hinges on losing candidates’ willingness to offer a timely concession. Morse conceded to Ayotte within minutes of the last polls closing Tuesday night, even as video from his speech clearly showed he was emotional. Warmington conceded to Craig less than two hours later, after enough votes were tallied to confirm the outcome.
A contentious Democratic primary similarly gave way to a prompt concession in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District.
“Democratic primary voters have made their choice clear. I respect it deeply,” Colin Van Ostern told supporters Tuesday night in Concord, as he acknowledged Maggie Goodlander had won their closely watched contest. “I know she is a uniquely strong candidate, and that’s exactly what we need to win in November.”
Van Ostern’s loss was effectively also a defeat for Representative Annie M. Kuster, who had endorsed him. The retiring congresswoman promptly lent her support to Goodlander.
“When I first ran for Congress, I emerged from a spirited primary and it made me a stronger candidate and helped prepare me to win and hold this seat,” Kuster said in a statement. “I know the same will be true for Maggie.”
Maggie Goodlander visits with supporters after a debate on Sept. 4 at New England College in Henniker, N.H. Steven Porter/Globe Staff
Goodlander, who left her job as a senior aide in President Biden’s White House — where her husband, Jake Sullivan, still works as national security adviser — moved back to her hometown, Nashua, to launch her congressional campaign. Her extensive political ties were evidenced by Hillary Clinton being among her pre-primary endorsers. She also poached Lynch’s endorsement from Van Ostern in the final few days of the primary.
The battle between Goodlander and Van Ostern drew national attention for how heated the rhetoric became, even as the two seemed to have few policy differences.
Kevin Blanchette, 35, an undeclared voter in Concord who works as a mental health counselor, said he decided very late in the primary to vote for Goodlander.
“That was a really tough one,” he said. “It came down to literally last night my final decision on that.”
Goodlander captured nearly 64 percent of the Democratic primary vote, while Van Ostern had about 36 percent, according to unofficial results from the Associated Press.
Goodlander will face Lily Tang Williams in the general election. Williams won the GOP primary with a little less than 36 percent of the vote, while Vikram Mansharamani collected about 27 percent and Bill Hamlen got 16 percent.
Williams was arguably the candidate most clearly aligned with former president Donald J. Trump in her contest. Republican voters in the 1st Congressional District went in a different direction. They nominated Russell Prescott rather than going with Hollie Noveletsky or Joseph Kelly Levasseur, who was the most clearly pro-Trump candidate in that contest.
Nonetheless, Democratic incumbent Representative Chris Pappas — who previously served alongside Prescott on New Hampshire’s five-member Executive Council — sought to portray his general election opponent as lockstep with Trump’s “MAGA” agenda.
“I know Russell Prescott. I’ve worked with him,” Pappas said Wednesday. “I have great respect for him. But he’s made it clear that he supports the Dobbs decision that took away a woman’s right to choose, and during his 25-year political career in New Hampshire, he’s fought at every turn against reproductive rights in our state.”
Prescott told WMUR that Pappas has “led us down the wrong road in terms of the economy, the border, and also the inflation issue.”
Prescott won with just over 26 percent of the vote. Noveletsky finished second with nearly 24 percent of the vote, while Levasseur finished third with about 23 percent.
Abortion rights and reproductive health care are sure to be major topics for Democratic messaging ahead of the general election. As far as New Hampshire’s gubernatorial race is concerned, Ayotte will likely keep talking about the quality of life in Manchester, as she blames Craig for concerns about drugs, crime, and homelessness in the city.
Craig and her supporters contend the criticism of her mayoral record is dishonest. They cite data that shows violent crime in Manchester fell by about 40 percent on her watch, while she worked to reduce opioid overdoses and build more affordable housing.
“We have unsheltered people in the whole country. We have opioid problems in the whole country,” said Nashua alderwoman-at-large Gloria J. Timmons, a Democrat who supported Craig in the primary. “You cannot blame it on one person.”
While their performance could impact down-ballot races, Ayotte and Craig are likely also to be impacted by the presidential election.
After withdrawing her support from Trump shortly before the 2016 election, Ayotte is supporting him again this year, albeit with less enthusiasm than Morse projected throughout the primary.
If the former president doesn’t perform better in New Hampshire than he did in 2016 and 2020, then Ayotte will need to attract support from ticket-splitters willing to vote for her as governor and Vice President Kamala Harris as president, according to Dante J. Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire.
“Before Sununu, Democrats were obviously controlling that seat more often than not,” Scala said of the governor’s race. “It’s harder, I think, to run ahead of the presidential ticket when it’s an open seat.”
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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter. Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
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Publish date : 2024-09-11 08:44:00
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