For the first time in a decade, there’s an open primary on both sides of the ballot in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District.
Leading up to the state primary on Sept. 10, NHPR is speaking with the top candidates running in that race to learn more about where they stand on some of the biggest concerns we’ve heard from voters.
Read on for NHPR Morning Edition host Rick Ganley’s interview with Republican Bill Hamlen. Hamlen is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He’s spent the majority of his career in commodity trading and now works in real estate in Hanover.
What questions do you have for the candidates running for Congress and governor in the 2024 election? What issues do you want them to address while seeking your vote? Share your thoughts here.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Transcript
What would you focus your attention on as a new member of Congress? What would you prioritize?
My number one priority, and it's a priority I share with the people of New Hampshire, is the runaway inflation that we have right now and the open border. People are concerned and worried about the open border, and particularly with the Republican voters that I speak to, it's the number one issue.
(Editor’s note: Unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border hit a record high under Joe Biden’s administration. Military operations at the border have also increased. Read NPR’s fact check of the claim that the U.S. Southern border is “open” here.)
Many voters that we've talked with are concerned about the high cost of living in New Hampshire, as you've said. What kind of policies would you specifically propose [or] support that would make the state a more affordable place to live?
You know, Rick, Milton Friedman once said, in the history of mankind, inflation has never been driven by consumer spending. It has always been a function of excessive government spending and/or printing of money. So I think bringing down inflation is a key issue for most people. It's something we can deal with by freezing government spending, getting the runaway government spending under control.
Another area where I think I can help is energy. Energy goes into everything we do, goes into our food, it goes into our cars, it heats our homes. And I think bringing down the price of energy can help bring down inflation. And again, that's something we can do.
How do you do that?
Well, you know, since Joe Biden took office, he declared war on domestic energy, and I would unwind some of the policies he put in place. A great example is he put a moratorium on export facilities of natural gas in the Gulf Coast. That natural gas can come out of the Gulf Coast, go around Florida, come up to New Hampshire and serve the people of the 2nd Congressional District. So I think that's just a great example of the type of thing we can easily do — end the moratorium on domestic export of natural gas, for example.
(Editor’s note: The Biden administration delayed consideration of projects aimed at exporting natural gas earlier this year. A U.S. District Judge ruled in July to put that delay on hold. Read more from NPR here.)
You want to see more drilling, for instance?
You know, we are blessed with some of the greatest resources on planet Earth. We have endless amounts of natural gas. The Marcellus Shale field in Pennsylvania, just about five hours from Keene, is one of the biggest discoveries of the last 20 years. So we as a nation have tremendous resources, and I think we should stop the war on domestic oil and free up American energy, yes.
You mentioned immigration a moment ago. Immigration and border policy is a top concern with many voters, as you know. What is one specific immigration policy that you would point to that you would want to see implemented?
Rick, you know, I have a niece that's been waiting to come here legally for five years. And I think the open border is an insult to all those people that want to come here legally. I have many friends that have come here legally. In fact, my wife is a first generation immigrant. She came from the Philippines. I was with her when she got her green card. I was with her when she got her papers. And so I think that securing the border is the number one thing we need to do as a nation to get our immigration back under control.
Are you in favor of policies that former President Donald Trump has talked about, specifically deporting millions of immigrants that are here?
I think the place where we need to start is with the criminals, the felons in places like New York, Boston, Austin, Texas, for example. We have police, law enforcement agencies that are not cooperating with ICE agents. And I think we need to get that back under control. So I think when it comes to deportation, I think we need to focus on those people that are violating our laws, the felons, the bad people.
For the folks who are on waitlists trying to get in, as you say, legally, you've talked about your niece that is waiting. How would you streamline that process? How would you make it possible for the people that you do want to come into the country to enter?
Oh, I think we should do everything we can to make legal immigration more accessible, and I think getting the border under control would lead to that process. So I think we secure the border, we discuss how we can streamline and make it more efficient and allow more people to come here legally.
New Hampshire has seen increasingly dangerous flooding events in recent years, placing a lot of financial strain on towns and cities in our state. How will you support those communities, as extreme weather events and flooding become more common in New Hampshire?
Good question. And I think at the federal level, it's hard to affect the weather in New Hampshire. But I think federal resources to help places like New Hampshire and Vermont, where we have seen some extreme weather, I think we should do everything we can to help with those rural communities.
And what would be some of those things?
Well, you know, I think when we talk about climate change and we talk about energy policy, you know, in 1977, my father drove me to school in an electric vehicle. Holistic energy policy has been a dinnertime conversation my entire life. So I think that when we talk about the climate, we talk about energy policy, we need a more holistic policy that works for everybody. The problem with a lot of the current solutions is that when we talk about green energy, we only talk about the positives and when we talk about fossil fuels, we only talk about the negatives.
Well, my question is more about infrastructure and towns and cities and dealing with the flooding that we have in place right now that's happening as we speak. I mean, how do towns and cities deal with that when they have to rebuild bridges and roads on a continual basis?
You know, I was up at the northern Grafton County Fair recently, and a gentleman was talking with me about a bridge in Lincoln that President Biden flew all the way up to New Hampshire to visit this bridge in Lincoln when he was touting his infrastructure bill. Well, here we are, three and a half years later, and that bridge has not been replaced or fixed. So I think there's a lot of money that's been freed up, that's been allocated but hasn't been spent efficiently. So when I go to Washington I would look into that and make sure that those federal funds are spent more efficiently.
(Editor’s note: President Joe Biden visited a bridge in Woodstock in 2021 after signing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. That bridge crossing the Pemigewasset River was included on that state’s “red list” of bridges in the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s most recent report published in March 2024.)
Now, we do continue to hear from voters that they are tired of the political polarization. It's something we hear again and again from listeners. Trust across party lines in Congress continues to dwindle. What about your background in particular, would qualify you to work with members of all parties to do what's best for people right here in New Hampshire?
Well, first of all, I'm an old fashioned, common sense conservative. I've got two parents, 94, I've got a wife, I've been married 28 years, and I've got two daughters. Every day I go home, I have to look at them. And look, I'm a common sense conservative that I think would appeal to all voters. I'm tired of the rancor, just as many people are. I think people want hope. They want vision. They want a message, they want a future. And I look forward to dialing down the rancor and bringing common sense, conservative solutions that serve all people, not just Republicans.
