ICYMI: NH Democrats are ‘United and Ready to Win Big’ in November

ICYMI: NH Democrats are ‘United and Ready to Win Big’ in November

In Case You Missed It, new reporting from the Granite Post about a New Hampshire Democratic Party memo underscores New Hampshire Democrats’ path to victory in November. According to the memo, Democrats are “on pace to match the kind of enthusiasm that powered victories across the board in 2018,” which is bad news for John Sununu, Kelly Ayotte, and New Hampshire Republicans who are “in lockstep with Donald Trump’s costly and chaotic agenda.”  

Under Costly Kelly, “everything has gotten more expensive,” so it’s no wonder that she’s “facing some of the worst approval ratings of any first-term New Hampshire governor in 30+ years.” 

In the U.S. Senate race, the memo calls John Sununu “Trump’s handpicked candidate” and “a rubber stamp for more of Trump’s failed policies.” Donald Trump’s PAC has spent over $10 million to “prop up” Sununu’s campaign, as part of $50 million in total outside spending so far, illustrating just how strongly Trump wants Sununu to join him in Washington.

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Granite Post: Exclusive: Inside NH Democrats’ post-primary battle plan to win in November

• Less than a day after polls closed, the New Hampshire Democratic Party circulated an internal memo declaring that Democrats are “united and ready to win big in November” and claiming that Tuesday’s primary turnout “dramatically outpaced the Secretary of State’s projection.”
• The two-page memo, obtained by The Granite Post, reads as a roadmap for the next eight weeks: protect the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation, beat Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R), and flip the Executive Council and the State House.
• The headline number is turnout. According to the memo, “roughly 151,215 Democrats” cast ballots “with 98 percent of the vote counted, more than 30,000 above the state’s forecast.”
• The plan is to ride that turnout into November while running one line of attack against both Republicans at the top of the ticket: that Sununu and Ayotte are “in lockstep with Donald Trump’s costly and chaotic agenda that’s slashing health care and making life more expensive for Granite State families and small businesses.”
• The memo casts Sununu as “a rubber stamp for more of Trump’s failed policies” and brands the governor “Costly Kelly,” arguing that “everything has gotten more expensive under Ayotte, from health care to electricity and housing costs.”
• If the memo’s count holds up, the Democratic total would land about 48,000 votes above Scanlan’s forecast. It would also put Democratic turnout well above the number Scanlan expected from Republicans.
• The memo casts the turnout as a sign that Democrats are “on pace to match the kind of enthusiasm that powered victories across the board in 2018.”
• The memo calls Sununu “Trump’s handpicked candidate,” a reference to Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement” over Brown, who had served as Trump’s ambassador to New Zealand. It says “over $30 million was already being spent to prop up” Sununu before “Trump’s PAC invested nearly $10 million into New Hampshire on Election Day,” citing a New York Times report on MAGA Inc., the super PAC (political action committee) aligned with the president.
• The memo also quotes Sununu calling the Senate race “important to President Trump’s agenda” and telling voters “we need to protect [Trump’s] gains,” linking to two short video clips.
• The memo says Ayotte ‘is facing some of the worst approval ratings of any first-term New Hampshire governor in 30+ years.’
• The memo’s broad argument is that “everything has gotten more expensive under Ayotte, from health care to electricity and housing costs,” and that Ayotte is “far better at enabling Trump’s chaotic and costly agenda than standing up to it.
• The party published a companion post making the same case on its website Wednesday.