The 2024 primary election in the Granite State is over, but candidates are already stumping for the November general election. On this episode of “The State We’re In,” Melanie Plenda discusses vetting candidates and the New Hampshire political scene with Anna Brown, director of Citizens Count, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating voters about the political process.
By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew
This article has been edited for length and clarity.
Melanie Plenda:
What’s your take on what happened in the primary? Any surprises in the wins or losses?
Anna Brown:
In most cases, the better-funded candidate did end up winning the day. For example, Kelly Ayotte, an early favorite among Republicans, handily won over Chuck Morse, so she'll be moving on to the race for governor. Maggie Goodlander, who came in with a very impressive national network of fundraisers, defeated Colin Van Ostern in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary.
On the 1st Congressional District side, it was an open field of Republicans, and it seemed like it was anyone's race, but ultimately, Russell Prescott did have the edge, and he also had, once again, the money edge. The 2nd Congressional District Republican primary was the exception — it was a little bit of a surprise. Lily Tong Williams raised less than both Bill Hamlin and Vikram Mansharamani, the other Republican candidates there, but was able to win the primary thanks in large part to a really good ground game.
I did notice that this was a different story than in 2022. In 2022, a lot of the primaries, more of those farther-right, liberty-leaning Republicans, maybe Trump-oriented Republicans, had a lot of success in the primaries, but this time, at the federal and trickling down to the state level, I saw more of those institutional, maybe more moderate Republicans carry the day.
Melanie Plenda:
Before the primary, Citizens Count surveyed the candidates and posted that information for voters. Can you tell us a bit about those surveys? What did they entail?
Anna Brown:
We survey the roughly 900 candidates for state and federal office in New Hampshire — state representative on up. We email, snail-mail, and follow up with phone calls.
The questions we asked are based on interviews with groups on both sides of the aisle, different advocacy groups. We also research campaign and party platforms, look at the biggest bills and solicit public input as well. So we come up with a list of about 20 questions, and we're looking for candidates to say are they for or against? Are they undecided? Do they have some other position that they'd like to share?
I think that it's a really great resource for voters, because a lot of these state representative candidates, in particular — the public have no idea who they are. They might not have a website. Yes, they're local races, so maybe you do know their name from the PTA or just running into them at school sports or at the grocery store or the gas station. But it's really important to learn where these candidates stand, especially when they differ from their party, which happens a fair amount when you go down to that really local level.
Melanie Plenda:
What trends did you see in the survey data?
Anna Brown:
One thing that's interesting is there's not really consensus in the Republican Party right now about where they want to go on abortion policy.
Based on our research and survey results, about one-fourth of Republicans that are running for the state Legislature favor a first trimester ban on abortion, over one-third favor a second trimester ban, and a third also favor guaranteeing the right to abortion before 24 weeks. A lot of the survey responses we've gotten have also just said they’re not taking a stand on any particular theoretical ban, but just saying “I'm not looking to change the law, I want it to stand as it is now.” So there's not a majority of Republicans that would come in, it seems, looking to add new abortion laws. But it is interesting that the party as a whole doesn't seem to have one clear message on abortion.
Also interesting, there's a certain percentage of Republicans, around 16%, based on our research and surveys, that are open to expanding net metering. That's a bit of a niche issue, but basically think of it as larger solar panel projects could get some benefits that would allow them to develop and move forward. So I think that there might be room for bipartisan agreement on that in the coming legislative session.
Lastly — kind of interesting — over half of Democrats are open to some form of a capital gains tax. Now, over half of Democrats is still not enough to be a majority in the Legislature, because you'd need the Democrats to get a majority, and then you'd need most of them to be on board. So I'm not saying a capital gains tax is likely to come next year, but I do think it's an interesting change over time, because we are entering what is probably going to be a tough budget year. The federal money is going to be gone, so we're losing out on interest on that. The [interest and dividends] tax will have been phased out by then. There are big lawsuits coming related to school funding and the Sununu Youth Services Center. So I think that Democrats are looking at, OK, what other revenue source can we have? I've got some interesting survey responses too, saying, how about a capital gains tax on second homes that you sell, or something like that? So there may be some interesting tax ideas that come up next year.
Melanie Plenda:
What about voters? What issues are on their minds?
Anna Brown:
Hate to be a broken record — abortion. We'll just throw that one out there and move on.
One thing that we noticed when we were putting together our survey, immigration is definitely an issue that comes up a lot in national debates, but when we were asking voters for their input on the state level, it wasn't necessarily bubbling up as something that was really driving their vote. I think that's because most of New Hampshire — you’re not really seeing the impacts of immigration. We're very far away from the southern border, and while the northern border is a debate, I wouldn't say that we're experiencing anything close to what happens on the southern border. I think that's a pretty fair statement, regardless of how you feel about the exact numbers and what's coming in. So I wonder if Republicans are going to keep sort of trying that with voters, or if at the state level they might sort of move on.
Then there's the issue of Trump. Quite frankly, Trump is just the one name that is absolutely on a lot of voters' minds. A lot of Republican challengers, I noticed in the primary, were saying, “I am a Trump candidate, I am aligned with Trump, and that didn't play as well in 2024 as it did in 2022. For example, even in the Congressional race in district 1, Joe Kelly Levasseur really branded himself as “I'm the only Trump candidate,” and he did not succeed. Whereas Karoline Leavitt really rode that to victory in 2022.
I think it'll be a similar tricky navigation. Voters care about it ,but is it a pro or a con? At this point, it definitely seems like in New Hampshire anyway, you have to be careful about getting branded as too, dare I say, “Trumpy.”
Melanie Plenda:
During the general election, things can be simpler, in terms of fewer candidates. But it can still be challenging, especially in local races, to find out who to vote for. Do you have any tips or tricks for quickly and easily researching candidates?
Anna Brown:
Shameless plug here for the Citizens Count website citizenscount.org. As I said, we survey all of these candidates, put any responses, they give us up on our website, and we will research those candidates who don't respond, looking at voting records and website statements, other media interviews and so on.
But there are other places — you can go check out your local newspapers. Those are often great for those local races and local events as well. Events are a great time to meet these people and talk to them, because I think it's also true that the temperament of a person when you meet them can really come across differently than if you're just reading statements online.
Candidates do have websites, by the way. You can always go to a candidate's website, but be careful — there's a lot of really general statements in there, such as, “I support veterans” or “I support children.” What does that really mean? It's almost, I think, becoming coded for partisan signals, which at that point just look at the “R” or “D” next to their name. So I encourage voters to look deeper, especially on issues like marijuana legalization, which might not necessarily fall on party lines exactly.
Melanie Plenda:
For voting newbies here in the Granite State, what should they bring to the polls, and what can’t they bring into the voting booth?
Anna Brown:
If you are 18 years old, you're a U.S. citizen, and you live in New Hampshire, you're allowed to vote. Now, if you show up without any documentation, there is going to be more paperwork for you, so if you don't want to fill out the extra paperwork and go through that, you're going to need proof of your identity, proof that you live in New Hampshire, and proof of your U.S. citizenship. So in a lot of cases, you're thinking about bringing your driver's license and your birth certificate or a passport. You can also use, for example, leases and utility bills. If you're a student, some student IDs can also prove your identity, but keep in mind it does need to have an expiration date on it. So this is information we have on our website. It's also information you can find on the Secretary of State's website, and that's for people who are registering to vote.
If you are already registered, you should bring an ID. They do ask to see your ID. Once again, you will have options. If you don't have an ID, it will require more paperwork and follow up, but it's easiest to bring your ID, and for most people, that's probably a driver's license, although there are other options.
In terms of what you bring into the voting booth, there are restrictions on quote, unquote electioneering. So basically, you can't walk into a polling place and then start handing out flyers for your favorite candidates. It has to stay neutral, but if you want to bring in a cheat sheet of who you want to vote for, that is totally fine. You can also open up your phone while you're in there and go to the Citizens Count website or whatever you want to do to help you make those decisions.
Melanie Plenda:
And finally, I’m sure you watched the recent presidential debate. What did you think? What were your takeaways?
Anna Brown:
I think that Kamala Harris did a very good job with sticking to her message of “we're not going back.” And saying, “this is what I am going to do going forward” and talking about specific policy proposals. And I think Donald Trump was responding a lot to what she said, instead of offering his specific policy proposals, talking a lot about “we had the greatest economy,” so once again, that's sort of looking back.
I think that that's going to be a challenge for his campaign going forward, because realistically, Kamala Harris has positioned herself as “I'm the younger candidate, I'm more vital, I'm exciting, I'm going to do new, fresh things. We don't want to go back to chaos.” She was very clear on that message, even when you looked at their closing statements. Donald Trump had a lot of criticism.
It certainly wasn't like the debate we saw for Trump versus Biden. Trump is a little bit rambly, if we'll be honest — I think that's his style. He sort of interrupts himself a lot and will go down a little tangent. But there wasn't any sort of sign that we saw with Biden where, I think, people are going to react and say, “He's just too old to do this.” But I do think, as I said, that Kamala Harris did come across as a little more collected in this debate.
Melanie Plenda:
Thank you for joining us Anna Brown, director of Citizens Count and executive director of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Service at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law.
“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.