AFTER A TENSE, chaotic and demoralizing 2024 election cycle, New Hampshire Democratic leaders have landed key spots as they try to put the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary back in the national party’s good graces.
The Union Leader first confirmed that new Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has returned New Hampshire party chairman Ray Buckley to the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee.
That committee is where the DNC in 2023 pushed through that absurd presidential primary calendar that awarded South Carolina the first primary date and would have made New Hampshire share second with Nevada.
So 2027 could be a perfect time for the Granite State empire to strike back.
“As we begin the quadrennial mission to protect New Hampshire’s First in Nation presidential primary, it’s an honor to join my good friend Joanne Dowdell on the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee,” Buckley said in a statement. “This marks the first time New Hampshire has had two members serving on the influential committee. Having two voices on the committee will be enormously helpful as we make our case for the primary.”
This is Dowdell’s second term on the bylaws panel after Martin named her to an unprecedented fifth four-year term as an at-large member of the DNC. Dowdell was a 2012 candidate for the 1st District congressional nomination.
The pair has a good story to tell, starting with, “Hey, DNC, had you left the calendar alone and made a cognitively challenged President Joe Biden run in New Hampshire’s primary, you would have learned by January 2024 instead of after a disastrous debate five months later that Biden clearly wasn’t up another four years in office.”
Democratic National Committeewoman and former Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy of Manchester will take Buckley’s spot on the influential DNC credentials committee.
Buckley served on the bylaws committee for two terms from 2009-17 which, relatively speaking, were a peaceful time for New Hampshire primary defenders.
Some in GOP still on U.S. Senate lookout
If the 2026 U.S. Senate Republican primary were held tomorrow, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown of Rye would be the nominee.
But even as Brown inches closer to an official candidacy, there are forces in Washington and back in New Hampshire mulling whether there should be an alternative.
Brown has told associates that he has two of the most prominent Senate Republicans in his corner: Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the latter of whom chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
In 2016, Brown came within 3 points of knocking off Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in a year when Hillary Clinton won New Hampshire’s four electoral votes.
There’s been no polling yet, but if there were, some GOP leaders here wonder if it might show four-term U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas with an early lead in a matchup against Brown.
Thus far, Brown hasn’t identified who would be managing his campaign.
We’ve learned one well-known GOP strategist took a pass: Chris Maidment, who already has a full plate of clients for 2026 that include the Committee to Elect N.H. House Republicans and Executive Councilors John Stephen, R-Manchester, and David Wheeler, R-Milford.
President Donald Trump named Brown his ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during his first term in the White House. But while Trump personally lobbied former Gov. Chris Sununu to get into the 2026 Senate race, the president has been silent about Brown.
Could Trump still be stewing about how outspoken Brown was in the spring of 2021 regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot?
“Absolutely, I mean he bears responsibility. I think his presidency was diminished as a result of this, and I think he’s paying a price,” Brown told CNN’s “State of the Union” on May 23, 2021.
“He’s been impeached twice. He was impeached for those actions.”
Ayotte picks new judicial panel members
As a former attorney general and murder prosecutor, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has a long list of friends in the legal field.
So when it came time to name her own five-person Judicial Selection Commission, it’s no surprise she picked some fresh faces.
Chairman and former Supreme Court Justice Chuck Douglas of Bow had told Ayotte that after eight years it was time to turn the reins over to someone else.
“I enjoyed the experience, but you should always look for new voices and especially a new governor,” Douglas said.
Ayotte decided to promote Mary Tenn, who has served on the commission that interviews all candidates for judicial spots and makes recommendations to the governor, to the chair.
The other returning incumbent is House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Lynn, R-Windham, a retired chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
The new picks are former New Hampshire Bar Association President Scott Harris of the McLane Middleton firm; Bryan Gould of Cleveland, Waters and Bass; and Kelly Cohen of Cohen Closing & Title.
Gould was a former legal counsel to the Republican State Committee and did some lobbying in the past for corporate clients, especially in environmental fields.
Dropping in on the ‘other gov’
On Wednesday, Ayotte decided to pay a surprise visit to her political namesake, Kid Governor Jade Adams at Wells Memorial School in Harrisville.
Ayotte spoke at a school assembly and Adams gave her a tour that included an outdoor education classroom. Adams gave Ayotte a T-shirt highlighting her yearlong push for New Hampshire to join the states that banned animal testing.
Signs SIG Sauer bill, fires off at trial lawyers
A day after the House endorsed it, Ayotte signed the controversial legislation (HB 551) granting immunity from lawsuits for gunmakers when it comes to optional features of the weapon.
As we first reported, this bill — sparked by lawsuits against Newington-based SIG Sauer — went from an amendment in a state senator’s back pocket May 8 to a signature by Ayotte two weeks later without a single public hearing.
In an emailed statement to The Keene Sentinel last week, Ayotte’s office said she “is proud to protect New Hampshire companies that create thousands of good-paying jobs from frivolous lawsuits. Out-of-state trial lawyers looking to make money will not find a venue in New Hampshire.”
Jeffrey Bagnell is a lawyer in Westport, Connecticut, who represented several who sued SIG Sauer over malfunctions with its P320 pistol.
“As a lawyer herself Governor Ayotte should understand the importance of refraining from rash statements pre-judging pending jury cases, potentially tainting jury pools, or attacking the parties’ lawyers. SIG’s own lawyers are from ‘out of state,’” Bagnell said.
“Moreover, the federal rules of civil procedure expressly allow a corporation to be sued in its home state — as a convenience to the corporation, not the plaintiffs. It’s right there in the Rules.”
Let’s play ‘When is the election?’
We’re in the final weeks of the 2025 legislative session and some Republican legislative leaders want to keep politicos guessing on a date for the 2026 state primary election.
This could be the year the stars align to have New Hampshire move its very late September primary up to June, when nearly 20 other states hold theirs.
A few months ago, former House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm of Manchester and House Election Law Committee Chair Ross Berry, R-Weare, came together on an amendment (HB 481) to effectively make the date change to start with the 2028 state primary.
Berry cited the open U.S. Senate seat in 2026 as one good reason to put off the change. But last week, Berry revealed he’s not yet fully sold on the delay.
His committee instead voted, 10-8, to recommend support for a Senate-passed bill (SB 222) that would have the date change be effective Jan. 1, 2026.
“I am not ready to take 2026 off the table yet,” Berry said, adding that there will need to be changes to other election laws for this to happen.
House Democrats on the panel will ask the full House this week to pass the amendment to kick it back to 2028.
Friend of Kelly headed to N.H.
A bigtime Friend of Kelly Ayotte is the guest of honor with the gov for the Amos Tuck Celebration Friday night at the DoubleTree hotel in Manchester.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Ayotte have been friends since they served in the U.S. Senate together.
Ernst also campaigned for Ayotte here in 2016 when the incumbent senator narrowly lost to then-Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Tickets are $100 apiece with spots at a private dinner reception going for $1,000 each.
First 2026 campaign reports to emerge
At the end of next week, we’ll get the first look at where some incumbents and candidates stand with financial reports due in Secretary of State David Scanlan’s office.
One financial loose end that got very little attention was the inaugural committee of Gov. Ayotte that did very well.
To date the group raised nearly $1 million — $974,321 to be exact — and after having spent $567,508, it still has more than $400,000 in the bank.
Many past governors used balances in their inaugural accounts to finance political travel.
The biggest donors, at $10,000 each, are a Who’s Who of corporate and prominent financial executives including Centene Management, the Medicaid management firm; Next Era Energy; the Liberty and Prosperity for New Hampshire PAC; New Hampshire Life Sciences Association; Amazon; AT&T; Delaware North Cos.; Gemini Electric; and Antoine “Tony” Nader, a leader in the transcendental meditation movement.
The law firms of Judicial Selection Commission picks Tenn, Harris and Gould also gave Ayotte’s inaugural group $5,000 each, as did lottery vendor Scientific Games, lobbyist Mike Dennehy, Waste Management, Bermstein Shur, Cornerstone Management, the Dupont Group and Ed Choice.
The ‘other’ Shaheen drawing crowds
Fresh off her announcement, 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Stefany Shaheen drew good crowds to kickoff parties on the Seacoast and to one in Manchester co-hosted by former Party Chair Kathy Sullivan, her sister and former Rep. Mary Heath and Rep. Patty Cornell.
The state lottery recently hit the $3 billion mark in returning profits to public schools.
“Over the past 61 years, the way people play the New Hampshire Lottery may have changed — with new games, new technology and new ways to win — but our commitment to public education in the Granite State has never wavered,” said outgoing Lottery Commission Chair Debra Douglas.
NH split on vehicle inspections
The latest University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll found some closely divided opinions on some hot-button issues at the State House.
On getting rid of annual car and truck safety inspections, 27% wanted to keep them, 26% wanted to get rid of them, 25% said to go to inspections every other year and 18% said they should only be done on vehicles five years and older. The other 4% had no opinion.
On whether to allow the state to alter zoning policies to encourage more housing, again a stalemate with 38% in favor, 40% against, 14% neutral and the other 8% unsure.
Then there’s the agreements Ayotte promotes for state and local cops to cooperate with federal immigration authorities; 47% support that idea, 50% oppose it.
Ayotte’s approval rating remains positive, 49% favorable to 41% unfavorable while Trump is 10 points underwater with 55% disapproving to 45% approving.
New Hampshire respondents aren’t fond of Trump getting a donated jet from Qatar to replace Air Force One, 28% saying it would be appropriate, 61% saying it would not be, and 11% don’t know or were unsure.
As for the U.S.’ actions on the war in Ukraine, 46% said it was too little, 24% said U.S. actions were just right, 17% think the U.S. should have no involvement in the matter and 13% had no opinion.
