A risky Democrat strategy to boost Republican candidates, who they considered too extreme to be elected, in primary elections against moderate Republicans may backfire after a shift in the political environment towards the GOP has made races featuring "extreme candidates" competitive.
- In New Hampshire, Republican candidate Don Bolduc has seen his race against incumbent Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) tighten to such an extent that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has poured funding back into the race only days after writing Bolduc off.
- Bolduc is one of six Republicans, identified by FiveThirtyEight, who won primaries after receiving some level of strategic boosting from Democrat funds. Four of those candidates are Trump endorsees and although Bolduc wasn't officially endorsed by Trump he has stated support for Trump and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) called him a “conspiracy-theory type.”
- FiveThirtyEight: "While they didn’t name retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc in their ads, Democratic-aligned groups spent millions attacking Bolduc’s main opponent, state Senate President Chuck Morse. National Republicans, meanwhile, spent millions to boost Morse in the hopes of defeating Bolduc, whom candidate."
Figure 1: New Hampshire Senate Race Aggregated Polling, Over Time% (FiveThirtyEight)
