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.
