Midterm results: Hassan beats back spirited Bolduc challenge in New Hampshire Senate race
David M. Drucker
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Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) won reelection after holding off Republican challenger Don Bolduc, who gained on her toward Election Day but could not turn an eleventh-hour endorsement from former President Donald Trump into an upset victory.
Indeed, it might have been Trump who sunk Bolduc. In his endorsement statement, the former president characterized the retired Army general as an “election denier” and praised him for agreeing with his claims that the 2020 contest won by President Joe Biden was stolen. Bolduc was on both sides of the fence on this issue at varying points of the campaign.
To some degree, Hassan was lucky.
The senator’s job approval ratings and favorable numbers were weak — other Republicans might have beat her quite easily, especially Gov. Chris Sununu. But after Sununu took a pass on the Senate race and Bolduc won the early September Republican primary, Hassan simply had to hold the big general election lead she began with.
Bolduc ran a spirited campaign, punctuated by several freewheeling town hall meetings for which New Hampshire politics is legendary. But the fiery conservative populist was not the sort of Republican who usually wins statewide races in the Granite State. Rather, the Republicans who do well there are more like Sununu: mild-mannered and pragmatic.
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Republican momentum heading into Election Day almost carried Bolduc to victory with it. But in the end, Hassan was able to hold on in a competitive state that nonetheless has not voted Republican for president since 2000 and not voted Republican for Senate since 2010.