According to a report from the Daily Beast, any hopes that Mitch McConnell might have had of being reinstalled as the Senate Majority Leader will likely be dashed this week as New Hampshire Republicans go to the polls.
At one point the seat held by Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan was considered a strong possibility of a pick-up for Republicans, but the failure to get popular Gov. Chris Sununu (R) to jump in the race, and the rise of yet another conspiracy-minded GOP candidate, has stuck a knife in Republican hopes.
As the Beast's Sam Brodey and Jake Lahut wrote, the likely GOP nominee for the Senate seat will be "Don Bolduc, a bombastic retired general who has embraced the MAGA wing of the party."
According to the report, "Republicans saw Sen. Maggie Hassan, the first-term Democratic incumbent, as an easy target who could pave the way to their recapture of the U.S. Senate majority. So did the press: a March 2021 headline from the Boston Globe blared that Hassan was 'the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for re-election," but now, "Top Republicans fear a Bolduc win would all but eliminate their chances to win a state they once viewed as ripe for the flipping. Glaringly, his campaign has under $90,000 in the bank heading into the primary. Hassan, who has raised a staggering $26 million in the last two years, is sitting on a $7.3 million warchest."
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) expressed dismay at the events unfolding in the Granite State, telling the Beast that Bolduc is "not our best candidate."
“It would be a shame to nominate somebody who can't win in the general election. I'm afraid that would be the case for the leading candidate right now," he added.
For their part, Democrats agree, with one strategist saying of the GOP's troubles in New Hampshire “This whole thing has been a shitshow.”
The strategist added, "They never had Sununu, they had no plan B, no plan C, nobody got in for two months. It was literally just Don Bolduc. In January you had a bunch of people get in, they all ate each other’s fundraising and support, and nobody took off.”
Republican Gov. Sununu has not been any help, refusing to endorse Bolduc and bluntly telling reporters, "He’s not a serious candidate, he’s really not, and if he were the GOP nominee I have no doubt we would have a much harder time,” before lamenting, "He’s kind of a conspiracy theorist-type candidate.”
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