Another week of #NHPolitics Ins and Outs, taking you on a tour of the ins and outs of the ever-changing world of New Hampshire Politics, keeping score of the winners and losers week-by-week — and letting you know who’s in and who’s out.

Let’s get into it.

Who’s In?

CD 2 Race Heats Up (for Dems) — Big poll this week out of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics had a lot of interesting numbers, but few as interesting as the poll for CD 2 candidate Maggie Goodlander up 10 points over opponent Colin Van Ostern, leading 41%-31%. This comes after an EMILYs List internal poll at the beginning of the month had Goodlander leading by 16 points.

Van Ostern has held many advantages over competitors, not the least of which is the resounding endorsement by popular outgoing congresswoman Annie Kuster, who currently holds the seat, so it’s taking many by surprise to see him lagging behind Goodlander. Expect this race to heat up on both sides as candidates make their final pitch to voters ahead of the September 10th primary.

NH Dems Head to Chicago — The New Hampshire Democratic Party is touting the most diverse slate of delegates ever selected to represent the voters of the state at next week’s Democratic National Convention.

NH’s Democratic delegates are 51% women, 42% youth, 32% LGBTQ+, 30% people of color and 92% are attending their first convention ever. Look for our coverage directly from the convention floor this week!

Pappas Gets a Boost from Firefighters — This week the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire (PFFNH) announced its endorsement of Chris Pappas for U.S. Congress in New Hampshire’s First District.

“Chris Pappas gets the job done for fire fighters. Since he was elected to Congress, he has consistently demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the safety, well-being, and professional needs of the fire service, stopping at nothing to ensure that fire fighters are equipped with the proper staffing, resources, and tools necessary to keep our communities safe,” said Brian Ryll, President of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire.

The endorsement adds to a strong week for Pappas who also launched his first ad of the cycle, read more about that here.

Who’s Out!

Ayotte Flees from Questions on Blackstone (Literally) — Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte was under fire this week after a major story in the New Hampshire Union Leader revealed she has continued to pocket millions of dollars from private equity firm Blackstone — the largest corporate landlord in the United States, where she currently sits as a board member.

Reactions to the story have been harsh and bipartisan, as New Hampshire suffers under one of the worst housing crisis in our collective history while Ayotte enriched herself personally from a predatory landlord accused of taking money out of the pockets of working people.

We tried to get her side of the story, but, like her reaction to Jon Stone, she decided the best way to deal with the problem was to run away from it. Tragic.

They Canceled the Gun Raffle Because of Woke — The Insurgent Republican candidate for State Senate Emily Phillips thought she had a good idea going, starting a raffle to benefit her campaign giving away a $2,000 Sig Sauer pistol to the winner.

Unfortunately it seems that the “establishment” shut her down this week, after a report to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office Philips was forced to end her raffle early. 

Women Destroyed the Economy? The NH GOP Thinks So — Democratic State Representative Jackie Chretien had an omg hit tweet this week, rightly pointing out that the NH GOP, rather than address the housing crisis and dismally low minimum wage, spent most of the last legislative calendar attacking LGBTQ+ youth on the taxpayer’s dime.

Her colleague, Republican State Representative Michael Granger, took that as an opportunity to mansplain how women entering the workforce was the actual root cause of high prices, in a particularly tasteless exchange on social media.

Maybe Granger was just channeling his best JD Vance impression?