POLITICS

Bolduc first to challenge Shaheen

Retired brigadier general says he 'fully supports' Trump

Paul Steinhauser
Retired Brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc announced Monday he will run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. [Paul Steinhauser/Seacaostonline and Fosters.com]

CONCORD — It’s game on in the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire.

Saying he’s “ticked off” at the partisan sniping in our nation’s capital, retired Brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

“Why can’t the people in Washington D.C., get it right? Well, because they’re the wrong people,” Bolduc said Monday as he launched his Republican bid in front of friends and family at an event at VFW Post 1631 in Concord.

The Laconia native, who moved to Stratham after serving more than three decades in the Army, took aim at Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who’s running for a third term representing New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate.

“I want everyone to understand that I respect Sen. Jeanne Shaheen for her decades in the political arena, but she has been part of the failed leadership in Congress and it is time for a change,” Bolduc said.

Highlighting his outsider credentials, Bolduc touted that “after 33 years in the Army, I don’t give a damn about politics.”

And he warned that the “politics and failed leadership in Congress … threatens everything from the economy to our national security and if unchecked it will threaten the futures of our children and our country.”

Bolduc called for “people down there on both sides” to “come together and work together,” but he also took a swipe at the Democrats.

“If you think in the air-conditioned halls of Congress I’m going to back down from loud-mouthed Democrats trying to tell me what to do, you are wrong,” he said.

Bolduc made clear in an interview with Seacoastonline that he backs President Donald Trump.

“The president of the United States I fully support,” he said. “Now I don’t hang on every word the president says, but the question we should asking is how we should be supporting the president to make him successful because if he’s successful, America’s successful.”

If elected, Bolduc said he would “help the president be successful with the programs he wants to put in place and the things that he wants to do.”

On policy, Bolduc predicted that “Obamacare is going to collapse under its own weight.”

And he argued that “we need to get new people” in Congress “to support the president on his initiative to improve health care for all Americans.”

He also embraced Trump’s call for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, saying “the wall is a part of the overall border security issue. There are many other things. Infrastructure, a shortage of our border patrol folks. Technology. All of those things, combined with a wall, will effectively secure our borders.”

Bolduc is the first Republican to formally announce a Senate bid. But he won’t have the field to himself for very long. Former New Hampshire House of Representatives Speaker Bill O’Brien told Seacoastonline on Friday that he will have a “fairly big announcement on July 23.”

O’Brien noted that he’s “quite happy with all the support I’m getting” as he moves towards a decision. Asked about Buldoc, O’Brien said, “I welcome his participation.”

But the conservative O’Brien, in an apparent jab at Bolduc, touted his “proven record” as compared to an “aspirational record.”

Bolduc vowed not to go negative.

“One thing I will not do is engage in the politics of personal destruction. I am a fair and respectful man. I will not go down that road,” he declared. “Others will attack me. They’ll spend millions trying to figure out every which way they can come out me. Fine. Because that means their back’s up against the wall.”

Shaheen announced her re-election campaign in January. The former three-term governor remains popular in polling and raised $1.4 million in campaign cash during the first three months of this year, as she ramps up her 2020 campaign effort.

Longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley took aim at Bolduc, O’Brien and attorney Bryant “Corky” Messner, who’s also seriously considering a Republican Senate bid.

"There is going to be an intense Republican primary between three candidates who would rubber-stamp Donald Trump's agenda to end health care for tens of thousands of Granite Staters and rip away protections for patients with pre-existing conditions,” Buckley predicted.

Bolduc, in his announcement, praised his wife Sharon as his “mentor.” The two have three sons and a service dog, who also attended the campaign launch event.

Bolduc, who received five Bronze Star medals and two Purple Hearts during his years of service, has since his military retirement become a leading voice on veterans’ issues and mental health, specifically veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Gillibrand headed to Seacoast

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will return to the Seacoast on Sunday, July 7.

Seacoastonline on Monday learned the senator from New York will take part in an Equal Citizens Democracy Town Hall in Portsmouth. The candidate is expected to discuss her proposals to reform democracy and make the federal government more accountable to the people. And she’ll highlight her clean elections plan. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. with doors opening at 3 p.m. at Portsmouth High School.

The town hall is party of a week-long visit Gillibrand will make to New Hampshire on July 3-9, as she plans stops in all 10 of the state’s counties. It will be her eighth trip to the state and her third stop in Portsmouth since declaring her candidacy.

Biden Portsmouth bound in mid-July

Former Vice President Joe Biden will be making a stop in Portsmouth when he returns to New Hampshire on July 12. Biden, the front-runner in current polling for the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, will headline the New Hampshire Young Democrats' annual Red, White & Blue & BBQ, which is the increasingly influential group’s summer fundraiser.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. at Cisco Brewers in Portsmouth.