The Chaotic and Nasty Republican Senate Primary Comes to an End

The Republican Senate primary will come to an end tomorrow after months of chaotic and nasty fighting that will severely weaken whoever emerges as the nominee and further divide the New Hampshire Republican Party. Here’s what you need to know before tomorrow:

1. “If You Want Six More Years of Mitch McConnell, Well Vote for Chuck Morse.” Chuck Morse has cemented his position as “Mitch McConnell’s guy” after "Mitch McConnell and his establishment friends" dropped nearly $5 million in ads through a new super PAC backing Morse and attacking his primary opponent Don Bolduc. McConnell’s last-minute primary intervention didn’t sit well with Kevin Smith, who at the WMUR debate last week said, “If you want six more years of Mitch McConnell, well vote for Chuck Morse." Smith has also called Morse “Chuck McConnell” and said, “When Mitch says, jump, Chuck is going to say, how high.”

2. The NH GOP Senate Primary Has Reached Peak Chaos. Over the last eight months, the NH GOP Senate primary has been about “pitting candidates aligned with GOP state and congressional leaders against provocative far-right rivals.” Recently, the messy fighting among the “squabbling field” has reached an all-time high, with the candidates attacking each other just days before the primary. One political strategist said it best: “This whole thing has been a shitshow.”

3. Morse and Bolduc Double Down on Anti-Choice Records, Make Clear That They Would Vote for a Nationwide Abortion Ban. Don Bolduc and Chuck Morse continue to make it clear that they would vote for a nationwide abortion ban if they were in the U.S Senate, despite the fact that 71% of Granite Staters consider themselves pro-choice. Chuck Morse was asked whether he would have supported a nationwide abortion ban that had no exceptions for rape or incest in the Senate and confirmed, “Yes I would support it.” Morse also said he was endorsed by Susan B. Anthony List — which wants to ban abortion nationwide — because the group was confident Morse would “carry that out in this country.” Recently, Don Bolduc said that people should “rejoice” at the Supreme Court overturning Roe, has compared abortion to murder, said he would “never compromise” in pushing for anti-choice legislation, and supported legislation that would throw doctors in jail for performing medically-necessary abortions.

4. Bolduc And Morse Push Far-Right Policies That Are Out of Touch With Granite Staters. Abortion isn’t the only policy that Don Bolduc and Chuck Morse have backward views on. Bolduc helped to spread former President Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen, and he said that he would work to overturn future election results in 2024 if President Biden wins. Bolduc made clear once again that he supports ending Social Security, saying that he supports replacing it with “a different system” and insisting that “we revise it” and “we reform it.” Bolduc has proposed cutting $2 trillion dollars from Social Security, raising the retirement age, slashing cost of living adjustments, and promised to reach a point where we “no longer have Social Security.” Gutting Social Security is in addition to Bolduc’s calls to defund the Department of Homeland Security. Morse is just as extreme — Morse sided with Big Pharma over Granite Staters by saying that he would vote against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices – which will help lower drug costs across the board – and would vote against capping the cost of insulin at $35.