As Chuck Morse readied to walk in the parade at Londonderry Old Home Days earlier this month, he was eager to make some predictions. One was that 2024 will be the year his decades-long political resume – in his hometown of Salem and as a State Senator in Concord – translates statewide.
“I think you can tell on the campaign trail that we’ve built such momentum that it’s working for the state,” Morse said.
Meanwhile, his rival in the race for the Republican Party’s gubernatorial primary, Kelly Ayotte, is focusing on persuading voters she’d keep New Hampshire on what she calls the “Sununu Path.” That includes joining the incumbent on one of Gov. Chris Sununu’s marathon Super603 Days in which the pair recently barnstormed from breakfast joints to boat rides, all captured on social media and all in the name of highlighting New Hampshire’s cultural and physical assets.
With just two weeks to go until the Sept. 10 primary, the candidates are both trying to convince voters they are on the right path to win the corner office come November.
For Morse, the attacks on Ayotte have focused on what she did as a U.S. Senator, but also, what she’s done since losing reelection in 2016 to Maggie Hassan.
“You can’t hide your record,” said Morse. “She went to Washington, she left, she joined all these boards and she made millions of dollars.”
“She needs to answer to the New Hampshire people,” Morse emphasized.
Ayotte for her part has largely ignored Morse in this primary, and maybe she can: Every poll shows her with a commanding lead.
Her campaign has vastly out-fundraised Morse’s. Ayotte has also touted Sununu’s endorsement, even though recent history shows that doesn’t always count as a plus in GOP primaries. Just ask Morse: He lost in the U.S. Senate primary in 2022 despite having Sununu’s endorsement.
Ayotte, a career prosecutor whose political rise predated social media, is now trying to mimic the influencer-informed campaigning that has helped Sununu win four terms in office.
“I mean it’s so awesome for me to be here with the governor,” Ayotte said during the Super603 Day event. “And like, we are going to make it happen. Super 603, we love this state” Ayotte said in one video as she prepared to ride an ATV in Gorham.
But following Sununu’s lead on social media is just one way Ayotte is already positioning herself for the general election. For weeks, Ayotte has worked to blunt Democrats’ criticism of her record on abortion, which includes a vote in the U.S. Senate for a national ban on almost all abortions after 20 weeks.
These days, Ayotte is stressing that she’d fight any change to the state law that permits abortion for any reason up to 24 weeks.
“I will protect that law. I will defend that law, I will not change that law, and if Washington tries to tell New Hampshire what to do, I will fight Washington, because I believe this is a state issue, that New Hampshire should decide this issue,” Ayotte told WMUR recently.
Ayotte, who earlier in her political career worked to curry favor with groups opposing abortion rights, is also now running TV ads stressing her current opposition to any abortion limit beyond current state law.
She’s also using TV ads to target the Democrat that polls show is that party’s frontrunner, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig.
But to face off against any Democrat, Ayotte will first need to win over Republican primary voters, who are not a group prone to rewarding candidates who tack towards the middle.
At the Londonderry Old Home Days Parade, Rockingham County Commissioner Steve Goddu said he’ll certainly support his party’s nominee, whoever it ends up being. But Goddu is backing Morse in the primary, and isn’t persuaded by Ayotte’s effort to tie herself to Sununu.
“You know, she’s got similar politics as Chris Sununu, and that’s been successful, but my preference is to have the most conservative governor that we can have, and I would think the Republican primary voter is going to vote for the most Republican Governor,” Goddu said.
The definition of “most Republican” in New Hampshire politics these days isn’t entirely clear. In this GOP primary, Morse is betting that means embracing Donald Trump, and the party’s grassroots activists. Ayotte is meanwhile hoping it means adopting the political profile most in tune with Sununu.
Republican voters will decide which approach they like best on Sept. 10.
