New Hampshire US Senate debate: Republican candidates square off

Five Republican candidates for U.S. Senate largely avoided attacking each other as they debated the top issues in the race Thursday, days before voters head to the polls.The candidates are competing for the nomination to face incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan in November. Read candidate bios: Bolduc | Fenton | Mansharamani | Morse | SmithRetired Army Gen. Don Bolduc, who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in 2020, is leading in the polls, and there were expectations that he would be targeted by the other candidates. State Senate President Chuck Morse was endorsed Thursday by Gov. Chris Sununu, so he might also have been a target.But there were almost no exchanges between the candidates, as they instead focused on trying to communicate their own ideas.On many issues, the candidates largely agreed. All said that energy independence was critical to bringing down inflation and helping solve problems ranging from supply chain issues to foreign relations.There were some key differences on several issues. Bruce Fenton, who served in the Navy before becoming a financial adviser and making a timely investment in Bitcoin, repeatedly shared his goal of making government smaller, saying near the end of the debate that he was glad only 7% of Americans have at least a lot of confidence in Congress.”I’d like to decrease it down to zero percent,” Fenton said. “Politicians are not the answer. Politicians are not the solution. Nobody should have any faith in Congress because they are not the solution.”RE-WATCH DEBATE VIDEOSSee the full debate at this link, or view the debate by segment here:IntroductionsDebate formatLegislative styleFood costsSupply chainMar-a-Lago searchAbortion policyNH law for US?Lightning round: Immigration, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, climate changeUkraine conflictReducing size of governmentConfidence in CongressClosing statementsFull debate videoPost-debate reactionsOn the other end of the spectrum, businessman Vikram Mansharamani called for the government to be reorganized and made more efficient.”I think the thousands of individuals I’ve talked to across the Granite State are frankly frustrated by the politics. They’re frustrated by the partisanship,” Mansharamani said. “What they want is not politics. They want progress. They want their problems solved. They want solutions.”The candidates were asked their thoughts on the investigation into classified documents the Department of Justice said were found in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. They all said the actions of the FBI should be examined.”The point is, we’ve politicized the process with the AG, the FBI,” Morse said. “We’ve gone after a former president in a way that everybody now is talking about things that they hear about on TV. That’s not the way to run a country. We need to investigate the management of both those divisions.”Bolduc said no classified materials should be kept in an insecure area, but he criticized the way the investigation has been run.”The Department of Justice handled this terribly. President (Joe) Biden handled this terribly,” Bolduc said. “I don’t care what former president it is. I don’t care if it’s Obama, if it’s Bush, if it’s Clinton — it really doesn’t matter much to me. We should’ve been notified. We should’ve been told what they were doing. There should’ve been transparency.”Fenton said the search of Mar-a-Lago also raised concerns with him.”I am concerned about the potential of the FBI and DOJ being used politically. I think that should concern every American, Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “Because if the concern is there, then it should be a concern of all of ours. As far as the reasoning for having these documents, I don’t know enough about the situation to know whether he should have the documents or not. It’s a very, very complex thing.”Mansharamani said he doesn’t believe confidential documents should be left in any unsecure place, and while there might be concerns with the investigation, he said presidents aren’t above the law.”My guess is most of the FBI, most of the law enforcement professionals, most of the Department of Justice are hard-working individuals trying to do the job, trying to do what’s right, trying to uphold the law,” he said. “Yes, we need to learn more, but no, I don’t think confidential documents should be left in any unsecured place regardless of whether it’s a president. A president is not above the law.”Former Londonderry town manager Kevin Smith said the search of Mar-a-Lago shows that the FBI has been politicized. “The American people do deserve to know why those documents were there, and I’m sure we’ll get there in due time,” he said. “But the reality right now is the way they want about this was unprecedented and unheard of by raiding the home of a former president. We have an FBI right now that has been weaponized and politicized. All I can say is thank God Merrick Garland is not currently sitting on the Supreme Court.”The candidates had varying responses when asked whether they would support abortion legislation on the federal level. Most said they supported the abortion law New Hampshire has in place.”As a United States senator, I’d have to look at all legislation carefully,” said Smith, who said he had been named the pro-life House member of the year when he served in the state Legislature. “I’m not going to make comments on any hypothetical pieces of legislation. I do believe the Supreme Court got this decision right with the Dobbs decision.”Morse said the Supreme Court decision means the issue should stay with the states.SEE POST-DEBATE REACTIONSChuck MorseVikram MansharamaniBruce FentonKevin Smith and Don Bolduc opted out of the post-debate interview”Now that the courts have acted, I think that we should legislate this in the states,” he said. “And that’s exactly what we did here in New Hampshire.”Fenton used the issue to repeat his call to reduce the reach of the federal government.”I think we should reduce government involvement at a federal level in everything, so I would vote no on any abortion laws at a federal level,” he said.Mansharamani said he believes abortion should be allowed during the first six months of pregnancy and would support federal legislation if it protected the abortion rules New Hampshire has in place.”I am happy to protect, even if it does require (action) at the federal level, the protection of the New Hampshire law,” he said. “The New Hampshire law is an appropriate law. It’s one that meets the needs of most families.”Bolduc also said he supports New Hampshire’s abortion law.”There is a solid New Hampshire law that allows a choice up to six months, and then after that, it forbids it except for the health of the mother should anything emerge,” he said. “That’s what a majority of Granite Staters want.”The debate is the third of four this week. The 1st District debate was held Tuesday and the 2nd District debate was held Wednesday. On Friday, the Republican candidates for governor debate at 8 p.m.Programming note: Due to the airing of the debate and the passing of Queen Elizabeth, WMUR’s program lineup has changed. After the debate at 8 p.m., a special edition of 20/20, “Queen Elizabeth II: A Royal Life” airs at 9 p.m. and then overnight at 1:36 a.m., WMUR will air an ABC News special report with the latest developments from the U.K.

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