Bolduc Says Democrats Use Energy Policy to ‘Create Uncertainty’ and ‘Control’ Americans

Retired general is in the last push to reach New Hampshire voters before Tuesday

Republican Senate candidate Don Bolduc delivered speeches at Kingston town hall, N.H., on Nov. 3, 2022.Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

Don Bolduc, New Hampshire’s Republican candidate for Senate, said on Nov. 3 that the Democrats are using its energy policy to “create uncertainty” and “govern us from the top down.”

Backed by former President Donald Trump and big-name Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Bolduc will face off against Democrat incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan.

Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, is now moving from one town hall to the next, aiming to connect with voters one more time before they cast ballots in the Nov. 8 general election.

“You don’t necessarily need money; you need time,” he said at the Kingston Town Hall event on Nov. 3, where he chatted with voters. Such town-hall conversations, Bolduc said, have continued for more than two years.

The contest for New Hampshire’s Senate seat is among the most competitive ones listed by political analysts. Bolduc has seen his favorability rating rise since he won the GOP nominations in September, though a Super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pulled substantial advertising money out of the Army veteran’s campaign.

Just a month prior, Hassan, who is finishing her first term, was favored by political forecasters and once held an 8.5-point lead over Bolduc. However, having closed the gap, Bolduc holds a slight edge in some new polls. Poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight found Bolduc leading Hassan by 3.2 points, 48.5 percent to 45.3 percent, in the result released on Nov. 4.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, and his wife Mercedes campaigned for Bolduc at the event on Thursday afternoon. Karoline Leavitt, the Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District, also appeared at the scene.

Matt Schlapp (L), chairman of the American Conservative Union, and his wife Mercedes (R) campaigned for Bolduc at Kingston Town Hall, N.H., on Nov. 3, 2022. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

God and Family

In one of the last pushes to reach voters, both Matt Schlapp and Bolduc launched right into the topics of conservative values: God, family, and education.

“It’s not Coronavirus that I fear,” Matt Schlapp told the attendees. “I fear this other virus that’s been set loose into our country, this virus that’s teaching our kids to believe that this is a racist country, a bad country. That’s what I fear.”

Echoing Schlapp’s remarks, Bolduc expressed concerns about the trend that God and family are undermined in school education.

“Unfortunately, over the last 40, 50 years, God has been removed from the public square to the detriment of all our institutions. And the first thing they went after was undermining our families, making government more important than our families, suggesting to us that government programs can supplant two-parent homes, that government can raise our children for us, that government can run our schools for us, that government is more important in every facet of our life than families,” said Bolduc. “It just got ingrained.”

Bolduc slammed his Democratic opponent for supporting such ideology in education.

“She certainly doesn’t reflect the values and principles that I learned in this state,” Bolduc said.

“They’re destroying our children’s education,” he added. “Third graders, 65 percent can’t read to grade level. Eighth graders, 66 percent can’t read and do math to grade level. When you can’t read the grade level at third grade, three times more likely not to graduate from high school. This is what they’re doing.”

Biden’s ‘Failed Economic and Energy Policies’

Bolduc then pointed to the tight supply of diesel and natural gas and record-high inflation under the administration of President Joe Biden, whom he said Hassan has supported with “100 percent” of her votes.

“Look what they’ve done single-handedly in two years: 100 percent of her votes have gone to support Joe Biden’s failed economic and energy policies,” Bolduc said. “I mean, this is horrendous.”

“But think about heating and eating ... since Biden has become president, and since we’ve lost control of inflation, and we’re living at what 18 days of diesel fuel, we’re rationing.”

“The natural gas that normally comes to New England is 18 billion cubic feet. For the wintertime, we’re only getting 2 billion cubic feet,” he said. “We’re in trouble. We’re going to have rolling blackouts.”

“But let me tell you what that does, that closes schools, that negatively affects our elderly at all ten of our county nursing homes. That’s incredible. How about the other elderly care facilities? Our schools will be closed again. Right? Some churches won’t be able to open.”

Such energy policies, he said, are used by the Democrats to “create uncertainty” and control Americans.

“They are using energy in their policies to control us, to create uncertainty, to govern us from the top down, instead of self-governance. Of the people by the people, for the people, has been undermined by this political process.”

Republican Senate candidate Don Bolduc delivered speeches at Kingston town hall, New Hampshire on Nov. 3, 2022. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

Pivotal Race

Before encouraging voters to cast ballots on Election Day, Bolduc vowed to continue the town hall gatherings with voters if he won the race.

“I have faith and hope that this country can move and go in the right direction. But it’s not going to be able to do that unless you send somebody to Washington, D.C. who is in it for you. That is not working for special interest lobbyists and wealthy political elite.”

“I will set up ten town halls in all ten counties in a centralized location in each county, so people can come and talk to their senator-elect. And I can listen. I can take your concerns to Washington, D.C.”

The Senate battle in New Hampshire is among the most closely watched as it remains pivotal to see whether the Republicans will be able to flip control of the upper chamber.

Until recently, some analytics websites changed their Senate forecast to favor Republicans. As of Nov. 4, the FiveThirtyEight model gave the Republican Party a 55 percent chance of winning a majority, compared to the Democrats’ 45 percent chance.

The model from RealClearPolitics shows that the GOP will control the Senate with 54 seats, as compared to Democrats’ 46 seats. It predicted that Republicans will now likely take seats in five states, including New Hampshire.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Hassan’s campaign for comment.

Learner Liu and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.