Joe Kelly Levasseur signs up to run in NH-01 GOP primary, June 14, 2024.

It took until the last day of filing, but MAGA finally made the GOP primary ballot in New Hampshire.

On Friday afternoon, Manchester Alderman-at-Large Joe Kelly Levasseur formally entered the First Congressional District Republican primary. He told NHJournal he did it for one reason: To support Donald Trump.

“One hundred percent to be with Trump and to help him get his agenda through,” Levasseur said when asked why he’s running. “Stop the lawfare, stop the impeachments, stop the Democrat hit pieces on this guy. He needs allies, he doesn’t need milquetoast Republicans. He needs real, hard-core ‘America First’ Republicans in Congress.”

Levasseur is joining a field that already features businessman and military veteran Chris Bright, business owner Hollie Noveletsky, and former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott. Bright and Noveletsky are first-time candidates, while Prescott came in fourth in the 2022 GOP primary for this seat. He plans to inject a surge of Trumpian politics into what he sees as a sleepy race for the nomination.

“They’ve been running for months and months. Nobody’s been talking about it or hearing about it,” Levasseur said of the rest of the GOP field. And while he also described Noveletsky and Prescott as “very serious candidates who got in early,” he says his entrance into the race will help them.

“I think they’re going to benefit by me getting in,” Levasseur told WFEA radio host Drew Cline on Friday. “I think it’ll add a lot more energy and it will certainly focus a lot more [attention] over to this side of the district,” meaning Manchester as opposed to the seacoast.

“A lot of people know me and I think there’ll be a lot more attention on this race,” Levasseur said.

Greg Moore with Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire described Levasseur’s decision “the only real spice added during the filing period” for the September primaries. “The rest was pretty well baked into the cake.”

Not that everyone is happy about Levasseur’s decision. A frequent candidate, a combative media presence, and an outspoken member of the GOP’s populist wing, Levasseur has plenty of enemies on both sides of the aisle.

“He’s Karoline Leavitt without the money or good looks,” one New Hampshire Republican activist told NHJournal on background.

Levasseur has run for office several times before, including a narrow loss to Chris Pappas in the 2016 Executive Council race. Two years later, Pappas was elected to Congress. He’s also run for state Senate and House of Representatives, and he was elected Hillsborough County Register of Probate in 2014.

One unintended consequence of Levasseur’s candidacy could be its impact on the race for governor. Levasseur says he plans to make Manchester — and the Democrats’ poor performance there — a central part of his campaign. Which means plenty of negative attacks on former Mayor Joyce Craig.

“I want to give Joyce Craig the credit she’s due,” Levasseur told NHJournal. “She really is responsible for turning Manchester from blue to red.”

Republicans have a functioning majority on the board for the first time since 1998.

The state has broadened who can seek payment for abuse while at the former Youth Development Center. 

Gov. Chris Sununu signed Senate Bill 591 Friday, which immediately expands the type of abuse eligible for payment but also increases settlement payment caps and gives individuals six more months to submit claims.

Under the new law, lawmakers added $60 million to the original $100 million Youth Development Center settlement fund to expand and increase compensation to victims. 

Until Friday, the state considered claims for only sexual and physical assault, and it capped awards at $1.5 million for sexual assault or a combination of sexual and physical assault and at $150,000 for physical abuse alone.

Now, there is an additional cateogry for “egregious” sexual abuse, defined as “wanton or cruel” abuse, that goes beyond what most victims experience. Those claims would be capped at $2.5 million.

Also new is a category for “other” abuse, which could include unlawful restraint, confinement, strip searches, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 

The two attorneys who represent nearly 1,000 former YDC residents have encouraged them to sue the state rather than settle because of limits on payments and eligible abuse. The attorneys told lawmakers they’d encourage their clients to settle instead under the bill.

In a statement Friday, Attorney General John Formella, whose office oversees the settlement process, thanked lawmakers, the governor, and the two attorneys who represent nearly 1,000 former YDC residents for supporting the legislation signed into law Friday.

“As we move forward, we are committed to working closely with (the fund’s administrator), plaintiffs’ counsel, and, most importantly, the victims themselves, to ensure that the implementation of these changes is conducted with fairness, respect, and efficiency,” Formella said. “Together, we are dedicated to providing victims with the justice and closure they deserve.”

Claims, which will now be accepted until May, can be filed via the Attorney General’s website, ydcclaims.nh.gov. 

The New Hampshire Spartans basketball program entered multiple teams at last weekend’s Zero Gravity Boys National Finals in Massachusetts, and the Hampton-based organization brought home two championships.

Both the Spartans’ eighth-grade and sixth-grade teams won all six of their games in their respective divisions, and won the championship.

“These are two very special teams,” Spartans owner/director Chris Coates said. “Our kids are confident. They’ve been going to big events since they were in fifth grade; they are not fazed by these big tournaments. We have some tough kids, both mentally and physically.”

The eighth-grade team beat the Middlesex Magic, 47-44 in the championship game. Hampton’s Kash Bailey was named tournament MVP and was placed on the all-tournament first team. Other members of the team include Nicholas Minutelli (Newmarket), Colin Morse (Exeter), Kavery Daniel (Rye), Will Jernigan (Lee), Peter Leggett (Dover), John Valhouli (Hampton), Dillon Salinas (Dover), Oscar Sims (Greenland) and Sawyer Demers (Rochester). Chad Cyr was the head coach.

The sixth-grade team beat the Schenectady Envy, 62-50 in the championship game. Rye’s Colin Swartz was named tournament MVP and was placed on the all-tournament first team. Other members of the team include Owen Conway, Jake Renna, Nick Pearl, and Ty Sullivan, all of Rye; Brennan Moriarty and Ethan Brown of Kittery, Maine; Tyler Minutelli of Newmarket, Owen Pierce of Durham; and Matthew Linteris of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Coates was head coach.