New Hampshire primary: Bernie Sanders' son among crowded field running in swing district

The race for the Democratic nomination has pit longtime politician Chris Pappas against veteran Maura Sullivan in a debate over who actually has deep enough roots to represent the district in southern New Hampshire. The 11-candidate contest to replace the retiring Democratic Rep. Carol Shea Porter has also featured a bid by Levi Sanders, the son of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The elder Sanders has sat out the race and has not endorsed his son.

Bernie Sanders' son is running for Congress in New Hampshire

A number of national organizations and political figures have not sat out the race, however. Pappas has been endorsed by three Democrats in the New Hampshire congressional delegation - Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster - while Sullivan has been backed by EMILY's List, a national Democratic organization that helps pro-choice women run for office, and Rep. Seth Moulton, who has worked to get veterans and service-focused candidates elected.

The race has focused on Sullivan's ties to the district. Sullivan, a Marine who spent time in the Obama administration, is originally from Illinois and has told reporters that she considered running for Congress in the state early in 2017. But, she says, she decided to move to New Hampshire and quickly took up a congressional campaign.

She has looked to blunt claims that she is a "carpetbagger" by arguing she has served the people of New Hampshire "for most of my whole adult life."

"When I put my life on the line in Fallujah in 2005, I was protecting the people of New Hampshire and in every state in this country," she told The Portsmouth Herald. Sullivan moved to the New Hampshire seacoast in 2017.

Pappas has looked to seize on those questions, however, regularly touting his ties to the state, his time running a popular restaurant in New Hampshire and the fact that most of his money raised has come from New Hampshire.

On the Republican side of the ballot, State Sen. Andy Sanborn is facing off against Eddie Edwards, former police chief in South Hampton, New Hampshire, and a Navy veteran. Sanborn has been backed by Sen. Rand Paul, while Edwards got a bump from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who campaigned with the former police chief earlier this year.

The Southern New Hampshire district has a history of swinging between parties. Shea-Porter and Republican Frank Guinta traded the district back and forth for years, but in the current political environment, where Democrats are on the offensive against Trump and Republicans, CNN rates the contest as lean Democratic.

Let's block ads! (Why?)