Keller @ Large: "Unprecedented" ads by Democratic Super PAC seen in the New Hampshire Republican Primary
BOSTON -- If you've watched TV at all in recent weeks, you've seen the ad wars in the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary race. "Mitch McConnell's Washington establishment is going all in for Chuck Morse, and it's no surprise," warns one spot that calls the New Hampshire Senate President "another sleazy politician."
But it's not an attack ad from Trumpian frontrunner Don Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general who ran a TV ad during a previous campaign in which he said "I didn't spend my life defending this country to let a lot of liberal socialist pansies squander it away." It's paid for by a Super PAC with ties to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"This is really unprecedented where Democrats are actually advocating for certain Republicans in a very meaningful way," says Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
It's happening in other states too because Democrats see a November advantage in pushing Republicans to nominate the Trumpiest candidates possible. And while he hasn't endorsed in New Hampshire, the former president's most recent comments were flattering to Bolduc: "He's said some great things," Trump told a radio interviewer. "Very strong guy, tough guy, I think he's doing very well too."
As he cruises toward re-election, Governor Chris Sununu, not a big Trump fan, has campaigned hard for Morse, with more than just one primary potentially at stake. "We're really gonna see what shapes up as the future of the Republican Party in New Hampshire," says veteran political reporter Kevin Landrigan of the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The voters "wanna get someone that can beat (Democratic incumbent) Maggie Hassan, which I think it's pretty obvious I can do that," says Morse. But Landrigan says "electability is oversold in primaries as a motivating factor for voters. At the end of the day, I just don't think it's that significant."
Could the Democratic meddling backfire on Bolduc? Maybe, but I suspect we saw a preview of what might happen in New Hampshire in last week's Massachusetts Republican primary, where Chris Doughty spent millions and made the electability argument against Geoff Diehl, the Trump-endorsed candidate, but still lost.
The day may come when former President Trump doesn't have tight control over the GOP base, but it hasn't come yet, no matter what the implications might be for November.
