“The bus will depart from downtown Boston at 10:00 AM for New Hampshire,” the ad reads. “You’ll be canvassing to support Harris-Walz, Joyce Craig, Maggie Goodlander, and Democrats up and down the ballot.”
“The passion and energy of Massachusetts Democrats know no bounds!” MassDems Chairman Steve Kerrigan boasted in a recent pitch for volunteers. “Just look at the numbers: Over 1,200 volunteers from Massachusetts have knocked on more than 38,586 doors in New Hampshire alone.”
Kerrigan’s fundraising email featured photos of U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey campaigning on the ground in the Granite State. In fact, Healey has been a frequent campaign companion of the New Hampshire Democratic nominee for governor — so much so that left-leaning NHPR asked Craig about it during their recent gubernatorial debate.
It’s true that cross-border campaigning is nothing new. But this year, some Granite State Republicans say it’s different. For one thing, the volume of activity and the profile Democrats are giving it seems higher than in the past.
“The amount of out-of-state volunteers coming to New Hampshire this general election season is a surprise,” said former New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen. Then again, he added, “There’s nothing easier than filling a bus in Harvard Square for a day of door-knocking in Hillsborough County on behalf of some progressive candidate.”
Another difference from past cross-border campaigns? There wasn’t a GOP candidate for governor like Kelly Ayotte urging voters, “Don’t ‘MASS’ Up New Hampshire!’”
Patrick Hynes, who has worked as a New Hampshire advisor for four different GOP presidential campaigns, said the MassDems’ high-profile investment in the Granite State is playing right into Ayotte’s hands.
“Kelly Ayotte is right,” he told NHJournal. “Joyce Craig and the Massachusetts Democratic Party want to ‘Mass Up’ New Hampshire.
“It appears Joyce Craig’s campaign generates so little enthusiasm among Granite State Democrats that she has to bus in pro-income tax, pro-illegal immigration activists from Massachusetts.
“We see this every presidential year, where Massachusetts folks travel here to influence our elections,” Moore said, and it’s “valuable” to Granite State Democrats.
“It certainly does nothing but advance Ayotte’s narrative that Craig wants New Hampshire to be more like Massachusetts.”
So, will Massachusetts Democrats get Granite State voters to follow their lead? Hynes doesn’t think so.
“I don’t think New Hampshire voters will be fooled,” he said. “They understand that New Hampshire is the best state in the nation because we reject the goofy, lefty politics of the Bay State.”
Obey
Article URL : https://nhjournal.com/are-bay-state-dems-trying-to-mass-up-nh-election/