New Hampshire and Rhode Island are holding the 2022 primary season’s final major contests on Tuesday.
Summary
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Delaware are holding the 2022 primary season’s final contests Tuesday.
- A crowded field of candidates are competing in the New Hampshire Republican primary for U.S. Senate to take on first-term Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. Hassan won by barely 1,000 votes in 2016 and is thought to be highly vulnerable – depending on the quality of her opposition.
- Retired Brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc lost to Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is running as an avowedly pro-Trump candidate, Bolduc has led in recent polling but is a poor fundraiser. Republican leaders fear Bolduc will lose just as badly in 2022 as he did in 2020.
- New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu backed state Senate President Chuck Morse, while former President Donald Trump declined to endorse. Morse has posted credible fundraising numbers and tends to run second to Bolduc in the polls.
- Gov. Sununu is a heavy favorite for a fourth term in office against his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Tom Sherman. Republicans will also select their nominees for the state’s two House districts on Tuesday.
- Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, took office early last year after then-Gov. Gina Raimondo resigned to join President Joe Biden’s cabinet. McKee should be favored in a general election in solidly Democratic Rhode Island – should he survive his primary.
- McKee’s bid for a first full term is being challenged by Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and CVS executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes. Foulkes is backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and has experienced a surge of support in the race’s final weeks.
- Longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin’s retirement opened Rhode Island’s Second District in the western half of the state. State Treasurer Seth Magaziner is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Republicans are hopeful popular former Cranston mayor Allan Fung can flip the seat.
- The Washington Post called the three Republican primaries in New Hampshire – for Senate and the two House districts – “bitter and expensive” battles between candidates aligned with national and state Republican leadership and “provocative far-right rivals.”
- FiveThirtyEight wrote Republicans have a better chance of taking down Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s swingy First District while the bluer Second District will be a tougher race. Moderate G.O.P. mayor George Hansel is facing off with pro-Trump local official Robert Burns, a poor fundraiser, for the right to take on Democratic Rep. Ann McLane Kuster.
- POLITICO explored House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid to “mow down” his intra-conference critics to assure his election to the speakership in January. The Republican primaries in New Hampshire are the last pieces of a year-long campaign to snuff out his critics.
- The Wall Street Journal covered the New Hampshire Senate primary in greater detail. The Journal noted Bolduc leads Morse by double-digits in recent polling.
- Breitbart noted the chaotic Republican primary for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire was sparked by popular Gov. Chris Sununu’s decision to seek a fourth term as governor.
- Fox News covered the Republican primary in New Hampshire’s 1st District, the so-called “MAGA faceoff” between 2020 nominee Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration official, and Karoline Leavitt, a former Trump White House communications staffer. The race between Mowers, 33, and Leavitt, 25, has become increasingly nasty in the final weeks.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated Don Bolduc lost to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen by 15 points in 2020. Bolduc was defeated in the G.O.P. primary, while Republican nominee Corky Messner lost to Shaheen.
Return to Freespoke 
© Dominic Moore, 2022
