Maybe it’s a good thing Republican Senate candidates retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc and fellow military veteran Bryant “Corky” Messner weren’t in the same room as they faced off in the first debate in their primary battle.
The race between the two candidates to win the honors of facing off with two-term Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in November’s general election has heated up this summer – with the attacks becoming more intense and personal.
The ill will was on display as the two debated Tuesday on the ‘New Hampshire Today’ radio program, with host Jack Heath moderating a showdown that comes with just three weeks to go until the state’s Sept. 8 primary. Due to social distancing amid the coronavirus, both candidates called into the program for the debate.
Bolduc accused Messner of being a wealthy out-of-stater who is trying to buy the election with the support of President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Messner charged that Bolduc lacked the basic understanding of how businesses function and was campaigning through character attacks.
Trump came up early in the debate.
Messner proudly touted his endorsement by the president.
“We worked really, really, hard to earn that endorsement and we are proud and honored to have received it,” he said.
He emphasized that the “endorsement indicates that President Trump knows I will fight hard to implement Trump’s agenda and help him get things get done in Washington D.C.”
While not guaranteeing victory, Trump’s backing goes a long way in contested Republican primaries. Bolduc hasn’t criticized the president over the endorsement – but he’s charged that the support to Messner from Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee amounts to “election rigging” that will not fly with Granite Staters. He downplayed the significance of the endorsement.
“I don’t care, because it’s had little effect on our campaign,” Bolduc answered when asked about Trump’s endorsement. “We have continued to raise money in a grassroots way, significant contributions from people across the state of New Hampshire.”
Bolduc’s fundraising is nothing to brag about – but he has received more contributions than Messner. By comparison, Messner has poured nearly $4 million of his own money into his Senate campaign, and enjoys a massive cash on hand advantage over Bolduc. That’s allowed Messner to vastly outspend Bolduc on TV commercials.
For Granite Staters just tuning in to the Republican Senate primary for the first time, Bolduc’s a Laconia native who served on the city’s police force before spending more than three decades in the military, rising to the rank of brigadier general. Bolduc led one of the first special forces teams to drop into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and overall notched 10 tours of duty in Afghanistan. Among the citations for valor he’s received during his career are five Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
Bolduc moved to Stratham after leaving the military and has become a leading voice on veterans issues and mental health, specifically veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Messner was raised in a blue-collar family in Altoona, Pennsylvania. After graduating from West Point in 1979, Messner became an Army Ranger and served in Germany during the Cold War. Following his military service, he attended law school at the University of Denver and went on to found a law firm that grew to more than 200 employees.
After calling Colorado home for years, Messner in 2018 became a resident of Wolfeboro – where he’s owned a home for a dozen years.
Earlier this year Bolduc criticized Messner as a “rich Colorado attorney” who’s trying to buy the election.
Asked about those charges, Bolduc said at the debate that “people need to be aware of both their candidates, what they’ve done in the past, because past actions are the best indicator of future behavior.”
Messner fired back.
“This whole idea of buying support is a character attack on those voters that support me,” Messner said. “That should not be done in a political campaign. One should not get engaged in the politics of personal destruction. I think it’s a horrible thing to do.”
And he stressed that he’s “certainly not buying any kind of support.”
Messner was asked about the large loans his Colorado law firm received from the federally created Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which was set up earlier this year to help small to medium-sized businesses offset financial losses from the coronavirus pandemic crisis – and to pay employees.
“I stepped away from the law firm over a year ago. I handed off the responsibilities. The business took a PPP loan to preserve jobs, which is the intent of those loans,” he explained.
Bolduc jabbed further.
“I think someone who can finance their own campaign can finance their own business … this is wrong, people come first,” he said.
Messner returned fire.
“What Don’s saying about financing your own business really demonstrates a lack of understanding of how business works and the taxes that are paid when you create a successful business,” he said.
Messner was also questioned by Heath about calls by Democrats for an investigation into alleged fraud at a charitable foundation run by Messner’s Colorado law firm. It was spurred by a recent Washington Post article describing how the Messner Foundation awarded just one scholarship in its first 10 years. Messner’s campaign has said the scholarship program did not formally begin until 2016 and that a second student recently was awarded funds.
Messner said there’s “no concern what-so-ever.” And he charged that the calls for an investigation are “an outrageous witch hunt hit job by the Democrats.”
Asked to weigh in, Bolduc used the opportunity to highlight Messner’s Colorado roots.
“I’m not from Colorado. I don’t know Colorado. Don’t have businesses in Colorado,” Bolduc responded. “All I can say is we have to take Mr. Messner at his word and we’ll let the New Hampshire voters decide on what’s true and what’s not true.”
Bolduc faced a question at the start of the debate over a controversial new ad put out by his campaign.
In the TV commercial, Bolduc appears on camera and says, “I didn’t spend my life defending this country to let a bunch of liberal, socialist pansies squander it away. I’m Don Bolduc, I approve this message and I’m asking for your vote.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest pro-LGBT advocacy and lobbying group, charged that Bolduc used a “homophobic slur” in the spot when referring to “liberal, socialist pansies.”
Bolduc didn’t back away from the language and said “we need to call people out.”
“I still stand behind the message because the message is very accurate. The use of pansy was to refer to weak people that are representing New Hampshire at this time,” he said.
Asked to weigh in on the controversy, Messner declined. He pointed to other top issues in the Senate race and said “I don’t think it’s a good use of our time to focus on this.”
Both candidates gave the president a thumbs up on how he’s handling the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the president balanced and weighed as much as he could with information he had at the time to make the right decisions,” Bolduc said.
Messner was even more effusive.
“I think he’s done a great job. … President Trump’s courageous decision to stop travel from China was key,” he said.
Both candidates – as expected – repeatedly took aim at Shaheen throughout the debate. Recent public opinion polling indicates that the winner of the GOP primary will be considered an underdog to popular former three-term governor in the November general election.