Stage set for Sept. 13 New Hampshire state primary
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The last of the candidates were signing up to meet Friday’s deadline for New Hampshire’s Sept. 13 state primary, including some competing in U.S. House districts that were redrawn at the last possible moment.
After Republican Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed two maps approved by the Legislature that would have given the GOP an advantage in the 1st District, the state Supreme Court adopted a new boundary on May 31, the day before the 10-day filing period began.
Under the new map, five towns moved from the 1st District to the 2nd: Albany, Campton, Jackson, New Hampton and Sandwich.
The 1st District flipped five times in seven elections before Democrat Chris Pappas won his first term in 2018. He faces no primary opponent this year, while more than half a dozen Republicans are competing for a chance to challenge him.
The lineup, as of Friday afternoon, includes the 2020 nominee, Matt Mowers; former state senator and Executive Councilor Russell Prescott; and former television reporter Gail Huff Brown, wife of former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown. Also running are state Rep. Tim Baxter, Mark Kilbane, Karoline Leavitt, Mary Maxwell, Kevin Rondeau and Gilead Towne.
In the 2nd District, U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster also faces no primary challenge as she seeks a sixth term. Five Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination: Scott Black, Robert Burns, George Hansel, Dean Poirier and Lily Tang Williams.
The most crowded Republican primary, however, is the race to pick a GOP nominee to challenge U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat seeking her second term. The Republican field includes Gerard Beloin, John Berman, Donald Bolduc, Bruce Fenton, Dennis Lamare, Edmond Laplante, Andy Martin, Vikram Mansharamani, Chuck Morse, Tejasinha Sivalingam and Kevin Smith. Hassan faces Paul Krautmann in the Democratic primary.
Sununu, who shocked many political observers by deciding to seek a fourth term instead of running for U.S. Senate, faces four primary challengers: Julian Acciard, Jay Lewis, Thaddeus Riley and Karen Testerman. State Sen. Tom Sherman is the lone candidate in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
While New Hampshire is known for hosting the nation’s earliest presidential primary every four years, it has one of latest state primaries. Sununu vetoed a bill last year that would have changed the date from the second Tuesday in September to the first Tuesday in August. This year, the Senate passed a bill that would have moved the primary to the second Tuesday in August, but it was killed in the House.