Another week of #NHPolitics Ins and Outs, taking you on a tour 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?

Joycementum! — The first batch of in-state, post-primary polls launched this week and shows the race for New Hampshire governor much tighter than many Republicans expected from their former-Senator candidate.

A new Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll this week had Ayotte up by 3 points against Craig, with a UNH Granite State Poll showing Craig up by 1 point, with Ayotte’s unfavorable numbers looking brutal, topping 50%.

The Craig campaign celebrated the numbers, while the Ayotte campaign kept quiet.

Harris Campaign Expands Their Sights — The New Hampshire Kamala Harris campaign this week held a press conference with New Hampshire healthcare leaders talking about Republican efforts to roll back access to IVF and abortion protections.

But interestingly, they didn’t just go after Donald Trump. They went after Kelly Ayotte.

In fact the speakers made a compelling case that Trump and Ayotte are two sides of the same coin when it comes to their efforts to roll back women’s rights, and their laughable attempts to rewrite their own records in an election year. Check out our coverage on their remarks for more and our socials for videos on the speakers.

NH Dems Launch Ayotte Ad, Newsletter, Legal Complaints — New Hampshire Democrats stayed busy this week, launching a new ad going after Kelly Ayotte’s on-again, off-again, on-again (again) endorsement of Donald Trump. Take a look here.

But that’s not all. NHDems this week also launched a new newsletter rounding up Ayotte coverage week-by-week through the election.

But that’s not all either! NHDems also filed legal complaints against two groups supporting Kelly Ayotte – the Live Free PAC and the Republican Governors Association (RGA) – for allegedly violating the law to help boost Ayotte’s campaign for governor with millions of dollars in illegal funds. 

In their complaint, NH Dems assert the RGA allegedly “broke the law by funneling nearly $3.5 million to an RGA-affiliated advocacy organization called Live Free PAC, which, then transferred more than $2 million to the campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte.” The source of those funds is not disclosed in the RGA’s filings.

NHPR covers the story in detail.

Business Leaders Back Joyce — A group of Manchester small business owners publicly threw their support behind Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig this week. In a letter released by her campaign, the business owners praised Craig’s economic record as mayor of the city of Manchester, while pushing back against what they call a campaign of “fearmongering lies” by her opponent, Republican Kelly Ayotte.

Check out our full story for more.

Who’s Out!

For the NH GOP, Bullying Children Is a Campaign Year Event — Even the most disciplined conservative campaign personalities in New Hampshire couldn’t help but be distracted by a little national attention over their newfound struggle to bully New Hampshire children playing school sports.

Per an article at WMUR, the superintendent of the Bow School District this week issued a no-trespass order to a parent involved in an anti-LGBTQ+ protest during a recent girls soccer game, targeting and harassing one transgender student by wearing pink armbands objecting to their playing sports with their friends. (An article one disgraced former lawmaker tried, and failed, to ratio.)

For New Hampshire Republicans, however, this was the outrage du jour, getting the full Libs of Tiktok treatment bemoaning the parents as victims, and not the children they were targeting. Even the NH GOP Chair Chris Ager and known anti-LGBTQ+ State Senate Candidate Victoria Sullivan weighed in on the side of the parents harassing students.

“Young” Gun — Russel Prescott, Republican Candidate for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional district this week accepted, without a hint of irony, being named to the National Republican Congressional Committee Young Guns program, meant to highlight young Republican talent running for congress.

The only problem? Prescott is a 63 year old man, turning 64 in less than a month. Now it’s not the oldest Young Gun the NRCC has ever named, but he might not be the youngest either.

Plunging in Polls, NH Republicans Start Whining — As one set of polls after another begin to show weakening support for New Hampshire Republicans in 2024, voices from the party have begun to show dissension within the ranks.

Top NH conservative consultant Michael Binudo took to social media this week to express his unhappiness with the state of the race, saying Republicans “ground game, which was once handled by the GOP, has been taken up by a fractured group of organizations that are disconnected and not working together.  There are many people making money, but there is not a cohesive strategy.”

Former member of NH GOP House Leadership Leah Cushman took aim at her former colleagues in the House for a recent press conference on their future priorities, saying “Do not trust current House leadership to do anything but maintain the status quo.”