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Mudslinging and Misinformation: What to Expect During Tonight’s NH GOP Primary Debate

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Mudslinging and Misinformation: What to Expect During Tonight’s NH GOP Primary Debate 

After months of infighting and personal attacks, Kelly Ayotte and Chuck Morse, Republican candidates for governor in New Hampshire, will face off in what is anticipated to be a messy and nasty debate ahead of the September 10 primary. The infighting throughout this primary has been so bad that the New Hampshire Republican Party had to beg their candidates to stop attacking each other earlier this year.

Tonight’s debate comes after Morse initially hammered Ayotte for dodging debates, and as the two candidates have relentlessly gone after one another on the airwaves, online, by mail, and in person — with Chuck Morse repeatedly highlighting the ways in which Ayotte has attempted to rewrite her record to court the most extreme fringes of the MAGA base, which already is deeply suspicious of her candidacy.

Viewers can be sure that both candidates struggle to answer for their extreme and unpopular records, including: 

  • Ayotte’s vote for a national abortion ban, calls for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, and four votes to defund Planned Parenthood in the U.S. Senate, all of which earned her a “100% rating” from The National Right to Life Committee.
  • Morse’s work passing New Hampshire’s first abortion ban in decades, which calls for civil and criminal penalties for doctors and health care professionals who provide abortions, including “up to seven years in prison and fines up to $100,000.”
  • Ayotte’s profiting off of the housing crisis while New Hampshire families struggle to keep a roof over their head, including her work with Blackstone, the nation’s largest corporate landlord, which has been accused of “exploiting tenants and ‘wreaking havoc’ in communities.”

“No matter what happens on the debate stage tonight, New Hampshire voters will come away sure about one thing: Granite Staters cannot trust either Chuck Morse or Kelly Ayotte to be governor,” said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “After months of mudslinging and infighting, New Hampshire’s GOP primary has devolved into a contest of who can stake out the most extreme, unpopular, and out-of-touch territory, ignoring the needs of hardworking Granite Staters and giving voters all the more reason to reject both of these candidates in November.”