NH Journal To Host First Debate Of GOP U.S. Senate Primary

By NH Journal

The five Republicans vying for the chance to take on U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan in November will meet onstage Monday night in the first debate of the GOP Senate primary, presented by New Hampshire Journal.

The candidate forum will be held at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics auditorium at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27. It is not open to the general public, but will be broadcast live on Manchester Public TV channel 16 and will stream online as well.

“As New Hampshire’s home for politics, we are looking forward to being the location for this important exchange with candidates who are competing in one of the most important races in the country,” said NHIOP Executive Director Neil Levesque.

All five of the invited GOP candidates have confirmed their attendance:

• Retired Gen. Don Bolduc
• Bitcoin businessman Bruce Fenton
• Entrepreneur Vikram Mansharamani
• State Sen. President Chuck Morse
• Former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith

The 90-minute debate will be moderated by New Hampshire Journal Managing Editor Michael Graham. He will be joined in the questioning by two panelists: Longtime New Hampshire GOP strategist and media personality Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos and Washington Times Capitol Hill reporter Haris Alic.

“Our goal is to kick off a conversation that will continue through the September 13 primary,” said Graham. “We’re going to be asking questions about issues Republican primary voters care about. This isn’t a debate for the media or the pundits. It’s for the actual voters who have the job of picking their party’s nominee.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.