New Hampshire
What Nikki Haley (Maybe) Learned in New Hampshire
“Everybody’s waiting to write my obituary.”
This is never a good thing for a candidate to be saying on Election Day.
But Nikki Haley, the candidate, was trying—pleading—to make a larger point to CNN’s Dana Bash as they sat on raised chairs in the middle of Chez Vachon, the landmark coffee shop and makeshift TV studio on the west side of Manchester, New Hampshire.
“We had 14 candidates,” Haley said, referring to the number of people who were seeking the Republican nomination a few months ago. “It’s now down to two”—Haley and Donald Trump. “That’s not an obituary; that’s somebody who’s a fighter.”
Fair enough. Haley was indeed still here and showing up, which is something to be proud of. She is the last woman standing between the former president and an unimpeded romp to the Republican nomination. This was Haley’s “closing argument” as she made her final rounds in New Hampshire yesterday, greeting volunteers at polling places, doing interviews, and hitting the tables at Chez Vachon. She would keep fighting and continue to flout the naysayers who have trailed her for her entire career. Underestimate me is the message printed on one of Haley’s favorite T-shirts. That’ll be fun.
Almost immediately after the polls closed, a few hours later, networks declared Trump the New Hampshire winner. His margin of victory over Haley, however, looked smaller than expected. “THIS RACE IS OVER,” Trump insisted in a text blasted out to his supporter list just after 8 p.m. Nope, Haley told her Election Night revelers in Concord, vowing to persist as the campaign moved to her home state of South Carolina. “New Hampshire is first in the nation. It’s not last in the nation,” she said in her speech. “This race is far from over.”
I spent much of December and early January watching Haley campaign for the job she quite clearly has been aspiring to for years. She proved to be disciplined and polished, good enough to outlast the battalion of male challengers arrayed alongside her—“the fellas,” as she has lately taken to calling her rivals, many of whom endorsed Trump as they fell away. She has claimed repeatedly to be part of a “two-person race” against Trump, despite finishing third in Iowa behind him and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
This felt like wishful thinking at times, but it is unquestionably true now and will present Haley with what’s been a recurring dilemma of her candidacy: How hard will she be willing to campaign against Trump? Will she be as noxious and ornery as the former president surely will be against her? Will she be willing to attack Trump and seize the ample vulnerabilities he provides, even if it risks his unrestrained ire?
Haley was hesitant to go after him when the field was more crowded. She offered only the mildest of critiques—that “chaos follows” Trump “rightly or wrongly” and that he was not “the right president” for these times (as he was before). But it was hardly a sure thing that Haley would deploy her best material against Trump—about his odd behavior and mental capacity and legal problems.
The final days of the New Hampshire campaign offered clues that she might now be willing to do so. She mentioned Trump’s age throughout the day yesterday (inflating it by three years, to 80) and brought up the perplexing sequence from Trump’s Friday-night rally, in which he seemed to suggest that Haley had been in charge of security at the Capitol on January 6 (he apparently had mistaken her for Nancy Pelosi).
Perhaps more notably, Haley conveyed that she was willing to draw out the race for as long as necessary. “Joe Biden isn’t going to get any younger or any better,” she said in her speech in Concord. “We’ll have all the time we need to beat Joe Biden.” This carried a sly message directed at Trump: He wasn’t getting any younger or better, either. And the longer the race continued, the more his court cases would advance, new facts would be revealed, and his behavior could spiral. Haley pointed out that voters in 20 states would be casting ballots in the next two months. There would be many more contests to enjoy, or stay alive for.
If nothing else, Haley would live to see another Election Day, in another state.
Primary days can give off an oddly freewheeling and punch-drunk vibe. Candidates, staffers, and volunteers have all done their work. Most of them are exhausted and often battling colds, hangovers, or other ailments. There is no more practice and preparation left to do.
“The hay is in the barn,” as old political hacks like to say. Or, at least one political hack said this—to me—but I forget who it was. I’ve also seen the maxim attributed to stir-crazy football coaches (before the big game) and distance runners (before a race). The basic idea is the same: There’s not much left to do, except find a way to pass hours and burn nervous energy.
Everything that remains tends to be improvisational and hardly strategic. Candidates rush around, trying to get supporters out to vote and, in Haley’s case, to convince them that the race is not over, despite all the polls showing Trump with a big lead.
“I don’t even want to talk about numbers, and I don’t think y’all should either,” Haley admonished Bash at Chez Vachon.
She then mentioned one number in particular: six.
That reflects the sum of votes that Haley received in Dixville Notch, the tiny village in the northern tip of the state that is known for tallying its votes just after midnight on the morning of the primary. “There were more than 10 journalists for every voter,” The New York Times said in its report on the wee-hours scene, which it called “as much a press spectacle as it is a serious exercise in democracy.” (The same could be said about the New Hampshire primary in general, an exercise that features a relatively tiny number of voters whose views are comically amplified by media swarms.)
“All six came to us,” Haley reported of the Dixville Notch vote. “Not part, not one—all six.”
Haley was joined at Chez Vachon by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, her biggest supporter and frequent traveling companion across the state in recent weeks. At one point, I asked Sununu, who was standing next to the kitchen door—nearly getting run over by waitresses carrying plates loaded with pancakes, bacon, and poutine drowned in brown gravy—whether he was worried that this might be the last New Hampshire primary as we know it. Some have predicted as much, given that the Democrats are no longer holding their first contest here. Was he feeling wistful at all, nostalgic maybe?
“Nah, we’re always in this. It never leaves us,” Sununu said. He added that the Democrats had “learned their lesson”—that they never should have messed with New Hampshire and tried to take away its rightful spot at the front of the primary parade.
Sununu has shown himself willing to question Trump’s age and mental fitness more directly than Haley had been until the past few days. “If he’s off the teleprompter, he can barely keep a cogent thought,” Sununu said of Trump in an interview with Fox News yesterday. “This guy is nearly 80 years old.”
“He’s 77,” the Fox host corrected him.
“That’s nearly 80,” Sununu maintained. “We’ll do math later.”
He has an obvious point about Trump, one that’s worth making. But this is a pet peeve of mine. Sununu and Haley often say that a Donald Trump–Joe Biden rematch would feature “two 80-year-olds.” Haley recently said that if Trump were convicted, and she were elected, she would likely pardon the former president. Why? Because it’s not in the country’s interest to have “an 80-year-old man sitting in jail,” she said.
It sounds like a minor thing, but if Haley is going to attack Trump (correctly) for lying, if she’s going to try to claim some moral high ground in this race, she herself should not be fudging the facts. There’s no need to anyway; at 52, she’s clearly younger than both him and Biden.
Since I figured the encounter at Chez Vachon might be the last time that I’d be so close to Haley—maybe ever—I decided to be one of those nuisance reporters and follow her out of the restaurant.
“How old is President Trump?” I asked her as she crossed Kelley Street. Haley ignored me.
“How old is President Trump?” I tried again. She kept walking. Someone else shouted a question that I didn’t hear.
“There’s a lot of energy, that’s what we’re seeing today,” Haley said in a rote tone, disappearing into a town car and motoring off to her next stop, and then more stops after that.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Concord on Friday to discuss a new health initiative to prevent and combat Lyme disease.
The visit was part of the “Take Back Your Health” campaign tour, a multimillion dollar initiative to promote dietary changes and exercise as preventative measures for chronic illness. Kennedy has been traveling the country to outline projects, including changing federal dietary guidelines, gut microbiome research, and addiction recovery.
Kennedy said his goal was to reduce Lyme disease by 25% by 2035.
Kennedy announced that over $2 million of federal funding will be up for grabs for projects focused on the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease. The grants, through a program called LymeX, will be available to businesses, scientists, and the public.
At the press conference Friday, Kennedy said the grants will go to projects including education tools and public awareness campaigns, front-line solutions like medication, and AI technology.
“This initiative will harness artificial intelligence and open data to help patients with Lyme disease and other invisible illnesses. Get answers faster and connect to care sooner,” he said.
Lyme in NH
New Hampshire has long been one of the epicenters for Lyme disease. The state has the seventh highest rate of Lyme disease in the country, according to the most recent data from 2023.
Read more: It’s tick season in New England. Here’s how to stay safe.
Tick season is a well-established time of year in New England, with an increase in cases and hospital visits in April and May. Research from Dartmouth shows half of adult blacklegged ticks in the Northeast carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
In a health advisory issued on Wednesday, State Epidemiologist Benjamin Chan pointed out that Lyme disease is one of the most common infections spread through tick bites. Other tick-borne infections include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Powassan virus.
Lyme is also the most common tick-borne illness in America, with an estimated 476,000 people getting the disease each year nationwide, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Service.
Kennedy’s record on Lyme disease
In the past, Kennedy has promoted a conspiracy theory that Lyme disease was bioengineered by the U.S. military. Late last year, he advocated for an investigation into a possible link between the military and the disease as part of a provision in a new defense bill, Scientific American and Politico reported.
Around that time, Kennedy said many patients’ claims were ignored, and he announced that “the gaslighting of Lyme patients is over.”
As an anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024. He then ran briefly as an independent before quitting and endorsing Donald Trump.
Trump later nominated him for health secretary, and he was confirmed by the Senate in early 2025 on a party-line vote.
Kennedy is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, and a son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was slain during his campaign for president in 1968. In his own bid for the White House, RFK Jr.’s name was never on the ballot in New Hampshire. In mid-2024, a UNH Survey Center poll found he mustered only 3% support among likely voters.
More resources
What to do if you’ve been bitten by a tick: Step one, don’t panic.
Tick season: How not to get bit
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in a series honoring Seacoast veterans’ military service and the organizations who support veterans sponsored by Service Credit Union. It appears each Friday. Nominate a veteran you know to be profiled by clicking on this link or using the form below. More than 85,000 veterans live in New Hampshire, according to the state’s Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services. Here are some of the many services available to veterans, their families, caregivers and supporters in the state.
New Hampshire Division of Veterans Services
This is the state’s starting point for veterans’ assistance. It can be reached by phone at 603-624-9230 or 800-622-9230, and online at nhveterans.nh.gov/veterans-services. On this site, you can find an important guide to services for veterans and their families. The N.H. Guide to Veterans’ Services is a PDF that can be viewed online or downloaded and printed out, and contains a plethora of important information about all aspects of a veterans’ life. https://www.nhveterans.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt401/files/inline-documents/2021-07/nhes-031320-vets-dir-guide-final.pdf
N.H. Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services
New Hampshire’s Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services (DMAVS) has mission to oversee and support the Service Members of the New Hampshire National Guard (NHNG) and to provide quality services to the state’s veterans and their families, according to its website. Call 603-225-1200 or find it online at https://www.nhveterans.nh.gov. There is a list of the state’s regional Veterans Services Officers and how to reach them or make an appointment at nhveterans.nh.gov/veterans-services/vsos-and-sites
Veterans Count
Veterans Count, a program of Easterseals NH Vets Count, provides mental health counseling, care coordination, housing stabilization, substance use treatment coordination, benefits and resources connection, and emergency financial assistance to all who have served in the military regardless of service era, discharge status or VA eligibility. The program connects veterans and their families with the help and resources they need confidentially. Email intake@vetscount.org or call 603-315-4354 or learn more at vetscount.org. The statewide Veterans Count program has four regional chapters. You can reach the Seacoast chapter at vetscount.org/chapters/seacoast. Vets Count presents local events and fundraisers like the upcoming Veterans Count Pack & Boots 5K Road Race on Sunday, July 5 from 8 to 11 a.m. beginning on Pierce Island in Portsmouth and ending in Prescott Park. Service members, veterans and community members are invited to participate in the fitness event designed for all ages and abilities, which will include a Survival Run-All, where runners carry a pack equal to 10% of their body weight; a Kids Fun Run 100-Meter Dash, and a 5K Road Race. Register at https://vetscount.org/events/veterans-count-pack-boots-5k-road-race/
Veterans Inc.
Veterans Inc. is the largest provider of support services to veterans and their families in New England. Email info@vertansinc.org, call 800-482-2565, sign up for its electronic newsletter and visit veteransinc.org.
Veterans Benefits Administration
A good source of information for the federal government’s veterans’ benefits and where you can search to locate a variety of local offices for federal services. Visit benefits.va.gov/benefits.
Pease ANGB Retiree Activities Office
The Retiree Activities Office at Pease provides information, services and programs to military retirees — all ranks, all services. Its mission is to act as an interface between the active-duty and retired communities; keep retirees updated on various matters; provide information and services as necessary or appropriate; and to represent retired members at the base and Air Force level, according to its website 157arw.ang.af.mil/About-Us/Retiree-Activities-Office/ where you can sign up for a periodic newsletter. The office has limited weekly hours so check its website for when it’s open or call 603-430-2636 and email peaseangb.rao@gmail.com.
Community-based Military Programs
The mission of the state’s Division of Community Based Military Programs is to collaborate, coordinate, and communicate with military and civilian provider groups to promote the delivery of quality health care services to New Hampshire veterans, service members and their families. Visit nhveterans.nh.gov/community-based-military-programs.
National Social Work Program local representatives
There is a social work leader in every VA health care system to help veterans get the care they need, according to the VA website, and connect them to the appropriate VA employee to assist them. New Hampshire’s social work leader is Kristin Maxwell. Contact Kristin. Maxwell@va.gov or call 603-624-4366. Visit socialwork.va.gov/Social_Work_Leaders.asp#NewHampshire.
Veterans Crisis Line
Veterans in crisis or someone who is concerned a veteran is in crisis can reach immediate help by dialing 988, then press 1. This is the National Suicide Hotline and by pressing 1, you’ll reach those specifically trained in veterans’ needs and resources. Veterans don’t need to be enrolled in VA benefit or health care to access this help, and it’s completely confidential. Free and available 24/7 every day. The Crisis Line can also be reached at its previous number, 800-273-8255, by text at 838255 and through chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.
Veterans Councils
Many cities and towns in New Hampshire have a Veterans Council to assist its residents. An example is Rochester’s Veterans Council at rochesterveteranscouncil.com or
Veterans Groups and Meetings
Community meetings and socials are a great resource for veterans looking for information and help. The Rochester NH Veterans for Veterans (facebook.com/groups/1258228782144974) meets every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Rochester Community Center and is sponsored by Rochester Recreation. All Veterans are welcome to attend the open discussions, which sometimes host a guest speaker from a veterans organizations to help members find resources. The Portsmouth Senior Activity Center hosts a Drop-In Veterans Social at 1 p.m. every Wednesday sponsored by the local Daughters of the American Revolution. All are welcome.
Assistance for veterans
There are many non-profits that provide a specific service to veterans. Some are:
Vouchers for Veterans
This non-profit, which was founded in Rochester, N.H., recognizes and thanks veterans for their service by providing voucher so they can purchase locally grown and prepared food directly from farmers and growers at local farmers markets. Visit vouchersforveterans.org or find them on Facebook at Vouchersforveterans.
Roofs For Veterans and Roof-A-Vet
Two non-profits will provide veterans with a new roof. Find more info at roofvets.com/roofs-for-veterans and roofavet.org. There are many organizations like these that will assist a veteran with home repairs or renovations.
Northeast Passage
Northeast Passage, based at the University of New Hampshire, provides adaptive sports and recreational opportunities for veteran and active-duty service members of all service eras and all ability levels. Many programs are free through funding from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, a partnership with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Operation Hat Trick and local organizations, according to its website. It offers veteran-specific events, group outings and competitive teams in sled hockey, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair lacrosse or power soccer. Visit nepassage.org/veteran-recreation.
University of New Hampshire Military and Veteran Services
UNH provides service and support to student veterans, service members and other military-affiliated students such as dependents. Contact Kalyn Ryll, director of military and veteran services, at Kalyn.Ryll@unh.edu or 603-862-3480.
Local VFW and American Legion posts
Find a local American Legion post at mylegion.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Find-a-Post. Find a Veterans of Foreign Wars post at vfw.org/find-a-post.
Elks programs for veterans
Many local Elks lodges have events or programs for veterans. The Elks have made a pledge “So long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them.” Its Elks National Veterans Service Commission helps local lodges provide services locally. The Portsmouth lodge is very active in helping veterans. Find more information at elks.org/vets/default.cfm?m=programs.
Service Credit Union thanks veterans for their military service and remembers all those service members currently deployed around the world. R.E.D. Friday stands for Remember Everyone Deployed on Fridays when some wear red to honor service members deployed worldwide.
New Hampshire
New charges filed against New Hampshire man who allegedly assaulted Harvard University student
A New Hampshire man has been charged in connection with two Harvard University assaults and breaking into a Massachusetts Institute of Technology dorm room last week.
On May 19 around 5:30 p.m., a woman was walking with a friend to her dorm at Lowell House on Holyoke Place. She entered the building and noticed someone was behind her, so she figured it was another student and held the door for them, according to prosecutor David Witter. The alleged victim told police that the person followed her up to the second floor, and when she went to open her dorm room, he grabbed her by the waist. The woman thought that it was a friend “playing a joke,” but she turned around and did not recognize the man, according to Witter. He then allegedly shoved her into the room.
The woman told police she was able to keep the door open somehow and clawed her way back to the entrance while screaming “no.” The victim told police she was thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Arthur Krogman, 31, then allegedly attempted to cover her mouth with his hands but was unable to.
“She was still able to yell. The alleged victim started yelling, ‘Help! Help! Help!” Witter said in court.
The victim’s scream for help garnered the attention of other residents in the building who entered the dorm hallway. Krogman then rushed out of the building using the stairway, according to prosecutors.
On May 27, Harvard University Police said that another victim had come forward saying that they were approached by a man near Peabody Terrace. The man allegedly grabbed the person by the wrist and tried to drag them towards a residential building while saying “Come here,” according to a police report. The man fled after the victim was able to release his grip on her wrist.
Police were then able to connect the suspect to another incident at MIT by using surveillance video, which identified Krogman’s green New Hampshire Subaru Outback at both campuses.
MIT Police said in an alert on May 19 that there was a man “acting suspiciously” and had attempted to follow a woman into the Sidney-Pacific graduate student dorm building around 5:45 p.m.
Krogman was identified after police ran his face through a DHS biometric database, which pulled up an Instagram post of a New Hampshire lacrosse team. The team’s coach, Chris Hettler, identified the suspect as Krogman. He also used to work as an EMT in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, where he lives.
Krogman was arrested and charged with kidnapping, witness intimidation, assault and battery, indecent assault and battery, and breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in court but appeared remotely. The judge did not require him to show his face. Krogman will be held without bail until his next court hearing on June 5.
Students celebrating commencement on Thursday said the incident had left them rattled when they first learned of it.
“I was very scared for my safety. I know a lot of people that kind of leave their doors unlocked or open, so I instantly ran back to my place to make sure all my stuff was good,” new graduate Zach Caudill said. “We are still a really strong community and we still just try to make sure it’s a great place to be.
-
Los Angeles, Ca33 minutes agoMan arrested for multiple Los Angeles freeway shootings: CHP
-
Detroit, MI53 minutes agoArchdiocese of Detroit’s list of parishes chosen for halted Masses grows
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoGiants reassign 3B coach Borg; Wotus named interim replacement
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoVigil honors victims of Dallas apartment explosion that killed three and injured five
-
Miami, FL1 hour ago
Miami kosher, Mutra, restaurant earns Michelin star | The Jerusalem Post
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoRed Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoDenver weather: Warm weather to end May
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle City Council proposal would use street closures to curb gun violence
