The next Republican Senate debate is set to take place on August 14th and will feature Don Bolduc, Kevin Smith, and Bruce Fenton — however, the presumed establishment favorite Chuck Morse is dodging the second debate.
After Morse’s floundering during the first debate, it’s no surprise he’s skipping this one. Morse was Bruce Fenton’s proverbial punching bag, and Fenton went after Morse for being a “rubber stamp” who is “afraid to answer questions” and mocked him as “an order taker” who is “not what we need right now.” Fenton didn’t stop there – in an emotional rant, Fenton attacked Morse for “doing nothing” to stop mask requirements and said Morse “failed us,” and failed Fenton, who yelled, “We needed you, Chuck. I needed you,” and demanded an apology.
Morse refused to respond to Fenton's attacks, which left political observers questioning his ability to perform in future debates. Now, it appears that Morse is opting to skip debates altogether.
Fenton isn’t the only Republican candidate Morse is avoiding. By skipping the debate, he’s also hiding from Kevin Smith, who continues to attackMorse and has not dropped his accusation that Morse planted a HuffPost story that exposed Smith’s troubling record of making sexist comments toward an employee and mishandling a sexual harassment case as Londonderry Town Manager.
The debate will be hosted by the Government Integrity Project, a fringe extremist organization that has made false accusations about election fraud and has supported chaotic protests against vaccines in New Hampshire — including the protests that disrupted an Executive Council meeting last year. Vikram Mansharamani will also not attend the debate, despite his previous call for Republicans to hold ten debates before the primary.
The Pulse of NH’s Jack Heath is hosting a debate on August 16th — will Morse dodge that one too?