New Hampshire Republicans this year have what’s become a rare opportunity: an open race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. Democrat Annie Kuster has held the seat, which covers the western half of the state and the North Country, for more than a decade. But her retirement — and uncertainty about the political strength of President Joe Biden — has a range of GOP hopefuls liking their chances this year.
NHPR’s Josh Rogers profiled the four Republicans who hope they have what it takes to win back the seat for the GOP this year.
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History would suggest being able to see the bright side of things is a good trait to have for any Republican running in the Democrat-leaning 2nd District, where the party’s candidates have won election just twice in the past 20 years.
“I really feel so much love, and volunteers: It’s really so encouraging for me,” Lily Tang Williams said as she campaigned at Amherst’s July 4th parade.
Tang Williams’ life — from her childhood in rural China where she’s said her family sometimes had to eat rats to survive, to her arrival in the US as a grad student, to making her way in this county in business and as a wife and mother — can seem like proof that optimism works. But Tang Williams’ political record gives less cause for hope. In 2016, she ran and lost a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Colorado as a Libertarian; two years ago Tang Williams, who lives in Weare, placed third in the 2nd District GOP primary. Liberty and wariness of all government is her core message — with a big dash of Trumpism.
“Our country needs a leader now who will put America first, who has this populist movement called ‘America First,’ “ Williams stressed, during a recent debate hosted by New Hampshire Journal. “I don't know why Democrats think MAGA Republicans are a threat. MAGA means, Make America, you know, Great.”
Businessman Vikram Mansharamani’s bottom line message that night was markedly less Trumpy than Tang Williams’. It makes sense: The former Harvard lecturer and self-described “global trendwatcher” co-chaired Nikki Haley’s state presidential campaign earlier this year. Like Haley, Mansharamani often describes the world on Biden’s watch as being “on fire.” And he makes the case that his varied skills as an analyst and problem-solver, and his temperament, could help change that.
“I am an optimist. I want to go and be your representative in DC not to be someone but to do something — to actually address these problems, to actually attack these problems,” Mansharamani said. “I think we can do that.”
Bill Hamlen of Hanover also brings a business background to this race. A Dartmouth graduate who’s never run for public office before, Hamlen has worked around the word as an investor and trader. He calls himself a “common sense conservative,” with a focus on fiscal and national security, rather than on social issues.
Hamlen says in this political climate, that kind of Republican would win in the 2nd Congressional District.
‘Republicans are about 30 percent of the state. If we give independents and folks in the middle someone they can trust, we can flip this seat,” Hamlen said as he campaigned on July 4th.
But in politics — and in this primary — common sense is in the eye of the beholder.
Former Nashua State Rep. Casey Crane is pitching herself to 2nd District voters as “Commonsense Casey.” But Crane’s definition of the term departs from Hamlen’s move-to-the-middle approach. Crane’s campaign website touts her stances on issues like parental rights and bans against transgender athletes in girls sports teams. The only candidate in the primary to have ever actually held elective office, Crane is also pitching herself as someone versed in the most prosaic aspects of public service.
“I know how to do constituent service. And if you have a problem, you want somebody in that office who actually answers the phone, knows who to call,” Crane told WMUR recently. “You know being a businessman is fine. But the problem is, [government] doesn't run like a business.”
Nor do elections. And this year, Republican voters in the 2nd District have a big choice to make — maybe bigger than it has been for years.
