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?
Cory In The House — US Senator Cory Booker did a swing through New Hampshire this week, firing up New Hampshire Democrats at a number of stops throughout the state, including Liar’s Bench brewery in Portsmouth. Check out our story for details on his trip and look for his comments on the NH governor’s race this week.
Friends of the Pod — This week, Democratic candidate Joyce Craig made a big appearance on top political podcast Pod Save America, giving voters a deep dive into her backstory and accomplishments in the city of Manchester.
Check out some clips of her appearance on our social channels.
Endorsements Pile Up — With just weeks to go until Election Day, Democrats in New Hampshire are collecting high profile endorsements, with Joyce Craig getting the nod from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its chairman, former Attorney General Eric Holder.
Congressman Chris Pappas just netted the endorsement of the US Chamber of Commerce, one of a vanishingly few number of Democrats endorsed by the chamber.
Maggie Goodlander, candidate for the second congressional district, just got endorsed by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) this week, adding to her long and growing list of major endorsements. Meanwhile, her opponent, Free Stater Lily Tang Williams celebrated the endorsement of Phil LaBonte, a far right musician best known for using homophobic slurs but definitely not being homophobic and helping known Russian government mouthpiece Tim Pool make unlistenable music.
Who’s Out!
Dumb — Most candidates for New Hampshire State House and Senate are spending their time knocking on doors, meeting voters, and doing the hard work of grassroots campaigning in their district to win votes to serve their community.
And then there’s disgraced former State Rep. Ross Berry, who decided to close the final weeks of his new campaign for the State House by suing a local library.
You may remember Berry from his resignation from the New Hampshire House of Representatives earlier this year after he was removed from his position as Chair of the Election Law Committee for enacting a scheme to trick Democratic lawmakers into missing a vote. He then made dark, evidence-free accusations against a fellow lawmaker.
Berry, who is running in Weare, has filed suit, along with State Senator Keith Murphy, against the Goffstown public library for illegal “electioneering” by distributing a candidate questionnaire on a range of leading election topics to keep the public informed.
Berry sued to keep the answers from the public.
The only problem? The New Hampshire Department of Justice (DOJ) doesn’t agree with Berry, with an attorney at the NH DOJ saying, in a preliminary assessment, that the questionnaire does not rise to the level of electioneering. Check out the Boston Globe for the full story.
And Dumber — Maybe the only thing dumber than suing a beloved public institution ahead of an election is a texting scandal, which is exactly what happened to State Rep. Joe Alexander this week.
[Editor’s note: The below paragraph includes a crude reference to sexual activity.]
The city of Goffstown was forced to adopt new rules against sexual harassment after Alexander, a member of the town’s Budget Committee, told Select Board Chair Peter Georgantas in a text earlier this year “I hope you remember who always had your back and not the lesbian clit you wanna lick” referring to Select Board Vice Chair Kelly Boyer after a board decision did not go Alexander’s way.
Quite the way to talk to colleagues. InDepthNH has the full story.
$160 Million For Who? — You might have seen the big yellow ads from Kelly Ayotte implying NH Dems want to impose a $160 million tax on all Granite Staters if elected.
So we did a deep dive on that sum this week and found the figure the Ayotte campaign is putting out is actually a massive tax break for millionaires in the state that would be downshifted to property taxpayers.
Not only that, but the tax break would overwhelmingly benefit Kelly Ayotte herself, and her vast stock holdings from corporate boards she sits on, saving her anywhere between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Pretty gutsy move to not only advocate for a tax break for yourself, but to make it the central thrust of your campaign. Check out our deep dive on this for more.
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