New Hampshire

How New Hampshire exposed Trump’s vulnerabilities and Biden’s path to beat him

Published

2 years ago

January 27, 2024

How New Hampshire exposed Trump’s vulnerabilities and Biden’s path to beat him

WASHINGTON − Donald Trump’s double-digit victory Tuesday in the New Hampshire Republican primary strengthened his grip on the party’s nomination yet exposed his greatest weakness as a general election candidate, reinforcing President Joe Biden’s road map to beat him in the fall.

Trump’s poor showing with New Hampshire’s independent voters − combined with some Republicans who said they won’t back the former president if he is the Republican nominee − underscored the risk Trump poses for the GOP as their nominee.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley won 58% of New Hampshire’s independent voters, who made up about 44% of the primary electorate, compared with Trump’s 39%, according to exit polls. Haley topped Trump 56%-42% among voters with college degrees.

Perhaps most alarming for the former president, about 90% of Haley’s voters in New Hampshire − a battleground in the general election − said they would be dissatisfied if Trump were the nominee. And 83% of Haley voters said Trump, who is facing multiple criminal indictments, would be unfit for office if convicted.

“The warning signs are there,” said Simon Rosenberg, a longtime Democratic strategist. “This idea that somehow Trump is strong and is doing better than he did in 2016 and 2020 − it’s a joke. What we are seeing is the non-MAGA wing of the Republican Party is very reticent about joining forces with MAGA in 2024.”

Abortion rights, democracy pitches have independents in mind

Independent and college-educated voters, particularly in fast-growing suburbs, have become the key swing vote in recent presidential elections. Biden’s strong showing with this group in Georgia, Michigan and other battleground states powered his victory against Trump in 2020.

“The question is: Where does that critical middle swing? Where does it go?” said Democratic strategist and author Melissa DeRosa. “And I think the Republican Party should be very fearful coming out of New Hampshire that Biden is going to have the edge with independents.”

Even as Haley vowed to fight on, Biden pivoted fully to a rematch against Trump after the outcome in New Hampshire, declaring in a statement that “it is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.” It’s a contest the campaign already has started bracing for.

Biden, who has long railed on “extreme MAGA” Republicans, has worked to make restoring abortion rights a top theme of his candidacy and has cast Trump as a threat to democracy − leaning into messages that energize not only Democrats but independent voters.

Abortion “is a case where a clear majority of voters side with Democrats and where you can point to Donald Trump and what he did as president in taking rights away or undermining rights on abortion access,” DeRosa said.

This week the Biden campaign launched a full-scale attack on Trump on abortion rights, reminding voters that it was Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments that produced the conservative majority that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which provided a constitutional right to an abortion.

“Donald Trump is betting we won’t vote on this issue,” Biden said Tuesday at a rally in Manassas, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. “He’s betting that we won’t hold him responsible, either.”

Biden kicked off the new year with a dramatic speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, arguing democracy is on the ballot in 2024 and accusing “MAGA voices” of abandoning the truth about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Biden called on “Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans” to make a choice: “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question is: Who are we?”

Biden has his own weaknesses versus Trump

Despite the warning signs for Trump in New Hampshire, Biden trails Trump in most head-to-head polls, losing among independents and underperforming with key factions of the Democratic coalition: Black, Hispanic and young voters.

Biden, who turned 81 in November, faces his own shortcomings in a Trump rematch: concerns from voters about his age, lagging enthusiasm among the Democratic base, surging migration at the southern border, and an enduring struggle to get credit for his greatest legislative accomplishments.

The Biden campaign has downplayed the polling struggles, arguing that as the election gets closer, a contrast between Trump’s campaign of “revenge and retribution” versus Biden “running to move the country forward” will crystallize for voters.

Hardened concerns about the economy amid stubborn inflation remain another problem for Biden. Polling has regularly found a majority of voters trust Trump more than Biden to handle the economy. But improving consumer coincidence suggests Biden could finally begin to capitalize politically on positive economic metrics such as low unemployment, a booming stock market and a growing gross domestic product.

“Things are finally beginning to sink in. We passed a lot of really good legislation,” Biden said Thursday in in Superior, Wisconsin, touting his historic infrastructure law. “We knew it was going to take time for it to begin to take hold. But it’s taken hold now and turning the economy around.”

DeRosa argued the economy could become a weakness for Trump.

“The thing that you really want for the economy to thrive and grow is stability and predictability – two things Donald Trump is not,” she said. “Donald Trump is a flamethrower.”

Why Biden already anointed Trump the nominee

William Howell, a political scientist from the University of Chicago, said Biden’s early anointment of Trump as the Republican nominee provides an opportunity for him to create a “coherent, forceful” story that has been missing amid the constant drama surrounding Trump and the Republican primary.

“What Biden needs to do is begin to shape the narrative about his first term in office and the stakes involved in his upcoming election, and he has struggled to do that,” Howell said. “He’s been at the fringes of political coverage, and he can’t be. He’s the president, and he’s running for reelection, and that that needs to change.”

Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin said the election will be decided not only by who can do a better job of turning out their base but also who can win over swing voters who aren’t in love with either candidate.

“These are voters who already dislike Trump and have likely voted against him in the past, so it’s Biden’s job to show them that he’s the better alternative,” Schwerin said. “These are voters that like what Biden has done on health care, clean-energy jobs and protecting democracy. They just need to hear about it more often and in a way that contrasts with how Trump will take these good things away.”

Trump has extreme vulnerabilities outside his hard-core MAGA base, and that presents a real opportunity for Democrats this fall, Schwerin said.

But “it’s going to take a lot of work to earn those votes,” he said.

Rosenberg, who has argued Democrats have more reason for optimism than Biden’s polling suggests, said “something broke within the Republican Party” as a result of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Since the court’s decision in 2022, Democrats exceeded expectations in the midterm elections that same year, racked up several wins in state referendums on abortion and outperformed Republicans in last year’s off-year elections.

“The burden to prove they have a strategy to win is on the Republicans; it’s not on us,” Rosenberg said, arguing the goal for the Biden campaign should be to “fully engage Trump every day.”

Meanwhile, Trump has spent much of 2024 campaigning from the courthouse, Rosenberg noted. Trump appeared in a New York courtroom Friday in his own defense in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

“The truth is, for all of us working in this business, we know that Donald Trump has more negatives than any candidate has ever had in the history of the country,” Rosenberg said.

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joeygarrison and Michael Collins @mcollinsNEWS.

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim

New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.

Notice compliance

One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.

At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:

• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.

• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.

• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.

Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)

Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.

Salaried vs. hourly employees

Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.

Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.

Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.

Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.

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New Hampshire

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Published

20 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Local News

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.

A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”

Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.

Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.

The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.

As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.

Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.

The newly released photo of Rosalie Miller, 36, who was strangled to death nearly 30 years ago. – Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall

“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.

The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.