Not one of the 20 New England Republicans looking for a seat in Washington won their races, and only two Republican governors pulled off a win out of the six New England states.
“Abortion turned out to be the number one issue by a mile even though the polls said it wasn’t,” New Hampshire state Rep. Melissa Blasek (R-Hillsborough) told The Epoch Times, “the Dobbs is the fundraiser that keeps on giving.”
She, like others, say they saw an uptick in a drive by Democrats for new voter registration based on the Dobbs decision.
Blasek also attributes the GOP loss in New England to infighting within the Republican party.
She herself, a Republican who led many popular party bills last session, was targeted by a PAC linked to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, with whom she often butt heads with over legislation. The PAC sent out mailers against her and several other Republicans who opposed Sununu on many issues.
She was one of the few that survived but ultimately lost after being the indirect target of another PAC that bolstered an unknown Republican who Sununu campaigned for in Blasek’s district. Following the in-party fighting, the Republican-controlled NH house lost 10 seats.
Sununu, considered a shoo-in by all estimations, seems to have felt the pinch of in-party discord when he won a fourth term by less than a 16 percent margin, a comfortable victory but hardly a landslide that would be anticipated between a Democratic state Senator with relatively low name recognition compared to the Sununu political dynasty, which includes his father, John Sununu, who was chief of staff to Reagan.
In 2020, Sununu fared much better in the elections, beating known Democrat Dan Feltes nearly 2 to 1.
A fragmented Republican party also ensured the gubernatorial primaries when loser Chris Doughty continued to campaign against fellow Republican Geoff Diehl.
In the Don Bolduc vs. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) race, some felt Bolduc brought on party alienation when he said he wouldn’t be on the supporting side of making Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) party leader again.
According to former President Donald Trump, contrary to liberal media analysis post elections that Republicans suffered under Trump endorsements, it was Bolduc’s lack of support that hurt him.
Large Union Presence
Others speculate that New England Democrats, in their big spending, won big support from special interest groups, especially unions who may have been turned off by Republican campaign promises to gut trickle-down federal spending sprees.According to a report released in January by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, all six New England states rank among the top 21 states with the largest unions per capita.
Among big union endorsements by New England Democrats including the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire’s endorsement of Hassan.
In Massachusetts, Maura Healey, winner of the governor’s race there, was endorsed by the Service Employees International Union Massachusetts State Council, which represents 115,000 members, including government employees and healthcare workers.
In spite of being equated as the defund police party, New England Democrats also picked up endorsements from a variety of law enforcement unions.
A review of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest law enforcement union in the United States, endorsed 60 Democrat-sponsored bills by the U.S. Congress compared to only 46 Republican-sponsored bills, with most of the supported bills providing significant federal dollars to state and local police agencies.
The one New England Republican candidate with some promise to head to Washington is Bruce Poliquin, who received an endorsement from The FOP’s Maine chapter in his bid for U.S. Congress.
Poliquin has to first survive the state’s ranked-choice voting next week against Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who won an endorsement from the NEA (National Education Association).
Regardless of the cause, New England voters stayed as blue as it has ever been in years.
In two other highly-watched national races in New Hampshire, conservative Karoline Leavitt failed to unseat ultra-liberal Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), and Bob Burns failed to unseat ultra-liberal Annie Kuster (D-N.H).
The same was true in Massachusetts, where all nine Republicans were looking for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives lost in addition to Diehl’s loss to Healey.
Maine also re-elected ultra-liberal Gov. Janet Mills over Republican Paul LePage.
In R.I., Allan Fung, who won bipartisan speculation that he would become the first Asian elected to U.S. Congress from the second smallest state in the United States, lost in what did turn out to be a very close race to Democrat Seth Magaziner.
Ashley Kalus, another conservative contender in R.I., lost to Democratic incumbent Daniel McKee in her bid for governor, and liberal Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) held onto his seat against GOPer Allen Waters with a nearly 2 to 1 win of the votes.
In Connecticut, Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont held off a defeat by Republican challenger Robert Sfefanowski by taking 55.3 percent of the vote. Democrats in all four of the southern New England state’s Congressional races also beat out their Republican contenders.
The only other successful Republican candidate next to N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu, was Vermont gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott, who is considered a left-leaning GOPer like Sununu.
Unlike Sununu, Scott trounced his Democrat candidate Brenda Siegel, winning 71.3 to her 24.1 percent. The rest of the elected candidates in the Northeast Kingdom state were Democrats.
