New Hampshire primary to set up key battleground state governor's race
New Hampshire voters will head to the polls Tuesday for a primary that will set up the matchup for one of just two governor’s races in presidential battleground states this year.
New Hampshire voters will head to the polls Tuesday for a primary that will set up the matchup for one of just two governor’s races in presidential battleground states this year.
On the Republican side, former Sen. Kelly Ayotte has a substantial polling lead against former state Senate President Chuck Morse in the race to replace outgoing GOP Gov. Chris Sununu. As for the Democrats, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig will face off against Cinde Warmington, a former health care lobbyist and a member of the state’s Executive Council, in what polls show is a relatively close race.
In addition to North Carolina, New Hampshire is the only other swing state to hold a race for governor this election cycle. Reproductive rights, housing costs and the opioid crisis have already emerged as the most prominent themes for the November general election, which the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter has rated as a “toss-up.”
Meanwhile, Cook has rated New Hampshire, a traditional presidential battleground, as “likely Democratic” in the race for the White House, cementing the decadeslong tendency of its voters to split their tickets. That is in part because nearly 40% of the state’s voters are registered independents.
As a result, national political trends — most prominently the ascendance of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and the prominence of reproductive rights as a turnout issue — may not hold the sway in the governor’s race that they do in other statewide races.
Rating: 5