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Less than 24 hours after Don Bolduc was declared the GOP’s Senate candidate, top Republican consultant Brad Card went on Good Morning NH to trash Bolduc’s chances in the general election, saying “people are very nervous.” Card showed little faith in Bolduc’s extreme candidacy, noting his fringe policies won’t resonate with the voters he needs.
Card said that “a lot of hopeful Washington, D.C. cash came in against” Bolduc and that his primary win was “disappointing because I want to win these races, and I think it’s much harder to win these races now than it would have been with other candidates.”
In addition to flaying Bolduc’s general election prospects, Card hit on 2020 conspiracies spread by “far right” candidates like Bolduc, telling host Jack Heath that “New Hampshire is not an election denier state.”
Republicans can already tell that Bolduc’s out-of-touch stances will be a tough sell to Granite Staters, and they’re trying to get some distance from Don already. Listen for yourself.
Transcript:
JACK HEATH: Brad Card, one of our political analysts and all-stars, joins us GMI Studios. The morning after the primary, we've already heard this morning from Don Bolduc, Karoline Leavitt, and Bob Burns. Brad, surprises? Your reactions.
BRAD CARD: Yeah. I'd like I'd like to say I'm surprised, but it looked like it was kind of trending in that direction, although a lot of, you know, hopeful Washington, D.C., cash came in against all three of those candidates. And New Hampshire voters decided that they wanted to go with the far right, and look, I think it's disappointing because I want to win these races. And I think it's much harder to win these races now than it would have been with other candidates.
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BRAD CARD: …Look, you know, General Bolduc, it was very unkind, I guess we could say and that's the kind way of saying it, to Governor Sununu. And, you know, Governor Sununu is rising above it. And he's going to do what's best for the party and try to help the party. At the end of the day, I'm not sure it's going to be enough to get General Bolduc over the line. I mean, there was a reason why Democrats were pouring money into his campaign, and it's because they thought he was the best candidate to run against.
JACK HEATH: But, Brad, you know, and I know, and independent voters will decide this, in parties, whether it's Democrats or Republicans, energy matters. You said there's a reason why they poured money in. But let me play devil's argument--advocate. There's a reason why he won the primary as well. What's the reason?
BRAD CARD: Yeah, but when you have a crowded field and you're winning with 30% of the vote, roughly, or a little bit more, you're doing it with a hardcore true believer base. And we talked about that yesterday where even in bad weather, the true believers are going to come out and vote. Now it's roughly 30-35% of the Republicans, right? So translate that into a general election. If you've got predominantly independents and you've got to attract some Democrat support, how do you do that when you're appealing to the furthest right faction of the Republican Party? Right. So you're talking 35% of Republicans.
JACK HEATH: Yeah.
BRAD CARD: I think it's very difficult. And I haven't seen, you know, certainly New Hampshire is not an election denier state. And that's what we have in the first CD. Openly and proudly an election denier. So I think that makes a very difficult stance. And look at this is about winning elections. It's not about winning primaries. So we'll have to see how it plays out. But again, while you have to get through a primary and we've talked about that and these are some of the challenges of having a very late primary season. But, you know, you can say, "Congratulations. You won a primary," which means nothing if you lose the general election.
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BRAD CARD: [...] But the reality is people are very nervous about the candidates that won this primary. Some, I've been hearing from some folks in New Hampshire, their friends, and they're like, wow. Oh, like, I didn't think we're that extreme.
JACK HEATH: But Brad, you're an insider. No, I'm kidding, Brad. I mean, these. [00:05:44][2.7]
BRAD CARD:These people that are calling me are not. They're voters.
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