Republican and Democratic voters will cast ballots for their preferred candidates during Tuesday's state primary elections. (Kate Brindley | New Hampshire Bulletin)
Voters will cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary elections for dozens of elected offices, from two federal seats to the register of probate. There are a few contested races to watch, particularly two where the incumbents are not seeking reelection.
The corner office
The governor’s race is wide open for the first time in eight years with Gov. Chris Sununu’s decision to forgo a fifth term. Voters will decide between multiple candidates on the Democratic and Republican ballots but the race has come down to four front-runners.
Former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington, a health care attorney and lone Democrat on the Executive Council, are in a close contest for the Democratic nomination.
An Aug. 22 poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center had Craig up by nine percentage points, but 23 percent of people surveyed said they were undecided.
Both candidates have said they oppose the state’s abortion law that prohibits the procedure in most cases after 24 weeks and would repeal education freedom accounts .
Craig has touted her time as mayor, saying her experience writing budgets and negotiating with different viewpoints on city policies makes her the better candidate. Warmington has pointed to her experience on the Executive Council fighting for reproductive health funding that the council’s Republicans have repeatedly rejected.
Warmington has challenged Craig’s claims about reducing crime and opioid use, and improving education, in Manchester. Craig has criticized Warmington’s role 22 years ago as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma and its painkiller drug Oxycontin.
On the Republican side, polls have shown former Attorney General and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte with a considerable lead over rival Chuck Morse, former state Senate president.
Both have said they’d prioritize fighting illegal immigration and securing the state’s border against drugs. They have also vowed to leave the state’s abortion law in place and not seek further restrictions.
Morse has criticized Ayotte for her decision in 2016 to break with former President Donald Trump after a tape showed him making crude comments about women and boasting about grabbing them without their consent. Ayotte now supports Trump.
Ayotte, who has been endorsed by Sununu, has pointed to Morse votes in the Legislature and questioned his commitment against illegal immigration.
Two congressional seats open
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas is seeking to serve a fourth term in the 1st Congressional District. The nearly 10 Republicans are vying to challenge him, including Russell Prescott, former state senator and executive councilor, and Joseph Kelly Levasseur, a member of the Manchester Board of Alderman.
But it’s the Democratic race for 2nd Congressional District seat that’s drawing the most attention, largely for the acrimony between candidates Colin Van Ostern and Maggie Goodlander.
Goodlander, a lawyer, has spent her career in Washington, working as a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk, and senior adviser to two late senators, Republican John McCain and Democrat and later independent Joe Lieberman.
Van Ostern served on the Executive Council and has worked for Stonyfield Yogurt and Southern New Hampshire University. He also helped lead Alumni Ventures, a venture capital company. He lost a bid for governor in 2016.
The two candidates largely agree on the issues.
While Van Ostern has the endorsement of outgoing Congresswoman Annie Kuster, whose past campaigns he advised, he recently lost the backing of two prominent Democratic supporters.
Former Gov. John Lynch announced recently that he’s shifting his support to Goodlander, saying Van Ostern’s campaign is among the “nastiest” he’s seen. Stonyfield Farm co-founder Gary Hirshberg, whom Van Ostern worked for, recently said he was backing Goodlander.
Van Ostern has questioned Goodlander’s commitment to protecting reproductive rights, citing her work for McCain, who opposed abortion. He’s also called into question her recent campaign financial filings where she stated verifiable assets, such as checking and retirement accounts, were “undetermined.”
Goodlander has called out Van Ostern for accepting money from a corporate PAC for this race and prior campaigns after saying he hadn’t and would not. After questions from the media, Van Ostern’s campaign refunded the 2024 contribution.
Two to watch in the state Senate
There are two primaries to keep an eye on in the state Senate, one for an open seat and another in a Republican race where a House incumbent is taking on a sitting senator.
Republican Sen. Bill Gannon of Sandown, who is seeking his third term, is facing a challenge from first-term Rep. Emily Phillips of Fremont in District 23. Phillips has said she jumped into the race to increase transparency in the Senate. Specifically, she wants to stop the use of “voice votes,” where lawmakers’ individual votes are not recorded.
Phillips served as assistant majority leader in the House until late last month, when she endorsed Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, in her primary race. Phillips and Read co-sponsored two circumcision-related bills this year that would have eliminated Medicaid coverage for elective circumcisions and required providers to give parents specific, detailed information prior to performing circumcisions.
Neither bill made it out of the House, but Phillips’ support for Read cost her her leadership post in the House. In a statement, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne of Auburn said Republicans cannot support “far-left Democrats.”
Phillips also co-sponsored a bill banning schools from adopting mask policies. It passed both chambers but was vetoed by Gov. Chris Sununu. Gannon’s vote on that bill was not recorded because the Senate passed it on a voice vote.
Gannon’s bills this year included two targeting undocumented individuals and a third in favor of requiring people who receive federal food assistance to work. None made it out of the Legislature.
On the Democratic side, three candidates in District 15 are vying to fill the seat left vacant when Sen. Becky Whitley of Hopkinton announced a run for Congress. Whitley has since dropped that bid. All three candidates have experience serving in the House.
Angela Brennan of Bow is serving her first term and Rebecca McWilliams of Concord is wrapping up her third. Tara Reardon served in the House from 1997 to 2009. She is currently a Merrimack County commissioner.
Brennan cosponsored a bill this year that would have expanded eligibility for free and reduced-price lunch; it failed. The governor signed another of Brennan’s bills, that one prohibiting state agencies from using artificial intelligence to “manipulate, discriminate, or surveil” members of the public.
McWilliams cosponsored several bills aimed at expanding housing and child care options . One signed by the governor aims to expand in-home child care by easing permitting local regulations.
Reardon, who worked for the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, which helps manufactured housing residents purchase their parks and has supported local food initiatives, has said she will prioritize affordable housing, clean energy, and supporting public schools.
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