George Hansel pledged “to put in a lot of windshield time in this enormous district” as he meets more voters in his run for Congress.
Hansel, the two-term Republican mayor of the deeply blue city of Keene, this week launched his bid for the Republican nomination in New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District, intending to challenge longtime Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster in November’s midterm elections.
Hansel received a big in-person boost at his campaign kickoff event in Keene. He landed the endorsement of the most popular Republican in the state – Gov. Chris Sununu.
The governor emphasized that he’s “100%” behind Hansel and praised him for his “record of public service,” including his constituent services to Keene residents, and his business chops.
In an interview with the Monitor, Hansel returned the compliments.
“I think Gov. Sununu has done an excellent job being the governor for the entire state of New Hampshire,” Hansel said. “I’ve been impressed with his leadership style and the way he listens to his constituents.”
Hansel knew in advance that Sununu would be attending the campaign kickoff and would be endorsing him, which he welcomed.
“I think the governor sees what I see – which is the people in the Second District not really having good representation and an opportunity for some change down in Washington, which is desperately needed,” Hansel said.
Hansel said he’ll showcase his record of fiscal responsibility in Keene, and spotlight soaring inflation that’s impacting Granite Staters.
“I’m hearing all the time working families are getting really squeezed at the gas pump. They’re seeing rising costs at the grocery store and they’re looking for some kind of relief, some kind of solution,” he said.
“I’ve been a mayor in Keene. I know how to find solutions for customers and employees as a business owner and I think that will translate really well to being a congressman,” he added.
Hansel said politics is about connecting with people and listening to their concerns.
“I try to be the most accessible public official that my constituents have ever seen. I try to do that in creative ways. I have a weekly call-in-radio show that I started when I became mayor,” he noted. “I’m constantly out meeting with people. My job as an elected official is to find people that don’t come to the meetings, who don’t speak up all the time. And helping them to find their voice and be their voice.”
Hansel’s announcement didn’t come as a total surprise, as there was speculation for at least a month by Republican insiders that the mayor would enter the race after Sununu ally Jeff Cozzens ended his congressional bid in April.
But Hansel, an executive at the family owned Filtrine Manufacturing in Keene, will likely face plenty of arrows as he works to win the GOP nomination in a party that’s shifted to the right and remains in the grip of former President Donald Trump.
The two candidates already in the Republican primary field – Bob Burns and Lily Tang Williams – are running far to the right of the more moderate Hansel.
Burns, a former Hillsborough County treasurer who ran unsuccessfully for the 2018 GOP nomination in the Second District, sought to make those differences more clear. “I am the only pro-life, pro-Trump, #AmericaFirst candidate running in #nh02” Burns said on Twitter as Hansel jumped into the race.
And Burns immediately went on the attack, calling Hansel a “woke BLM activist and mask mandater.” Burns’ comment references a Black Lives Matter rally in Keene that the mayor attended and Hansel’s previous support for a mask mandate.
Hansel had no apalogies for appearing at the rally in 2020.
“I went to a peaceful protest that was going on outside my office with the chief of police and the county sheriff,” Hansel said. “And I go to listen to my constituents. That’s really important.”
Keene’s mask mandate was ultimately rescinded in February when the mayor cast the decisive vote to break a tie on the city council. Keene mayors, by municipal charter, can only vote to break ties.
Hansel’s support for abortion rights is another example where he falls to the left of his primary rivals.
“I have a responsibility to my constituents in CD2 to keep abortion legal and safe,” Hansel said. “And I hope that other states, if Roe v. Wade is struck down, will follow New Hampshire’s lead with a commonsense approach.”
Where he agrees with his primary rivals is in his view of Kuster.
Kuster’s “been a minion for the administration and congressional leadership. I think people in New Hampshire, especially the Second District, are looking for people who have some independence, and also look out for them, listen to their concerns and troubles.”
He asserted that Second District voters “haven’t been heard. Congresswoman Kuster has pretty much been absent in the time that she’s been in Congress. They’re ready for something different.”
Even though Democrats in New Hampshire and nationwide face historical headwinds and a very unfavorable political climate as they try to hold on to their majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in November’s elections, Kuster will be hard to beat. The five-term incumbent from Hopkinton is a ferocious fundraiser.
If he wins the September GOP primary, Hansel predicts a close race with Kuster.
“We’re going to run a very competitive campaign,” Hansel said. “It’s going to be the most competitive campaign in this district in the last decade.”
Asked how he could compete with Kuster, Hansel said it’s all about that windshield time.
“That’s a key part of my campaign. I’m going to be stopping at small village stores. I’m going to be stopping at farms and businesses,” he said.
“I really think it’s retail politics. I know how many people I have to meet. How many hands I have to shake to win this race.”